Super Mario 10: Ascendancy of Darkness
by NintendoMasterGC
Summary: Two royals, two relations, two destinies...ONE VICTOR. Princess Peach is about to discover something that will change her life forever...for the worse. Rated T for "Tons" of scary scenes and violence, not to mention those pesky demons.
1. Plotline

Before _Super Mario 10_...before darkness stretched its foul claw over the Mushroom Kingdom...there was a rainbow—an _eight_-colored rainbow, with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and black. This rainbow was made up of seventeen mystical objects—eight Rainbow Discs, eight Rainbow Rings, one Rainbow Pendant. The Rings were sent to a secluded shrine in the sky, where they were guarded by the Rainbow Fairies. The Pendant was lost and was never found again. But the Discs were placed in the Rainbow Temple, in the care of the eight Rainbow Guardians—Ruby, Amber, Citrine, Emerald, Aquamarine, Sapphire, Amethyst, and Diamond.

The years of peacefully guarding the tremendous power of the rainbow were not to last. Diamond herself, the most powerful Guardian, grew corrupt with her power and turned against her sisters, sealing the temple with a curse. The Guardians and the power they held were trapped inside. The other seven strove to overcome her and break the curse, but to no avail. Diamond was too strong for them.

Then Mario came. He and his partners worked alongside the first seven Guardians and finally overthrew Diamond and broke the curse. With the Guardians helping him he managed to defeat the recently resurrected Shadows Royal—the dreaded Shadow King and Queen.

There was a woman, a mysterious woman, who held Peach and Mario captive between the breaking of the curse and the defeat of the Royals. She threatened both with agonizing death...but why, neither knew. She claimed Peach owed her the crown...of course Peach rejected her demands. But who she was, or what her purpose was, she never revealed.

Mario managed to get Peach to safety with help from his friends, both new and old. A well-placed explosion brought the Great One's fortress down on her own head. Once the entire escapade was through, Peach spent much time puzzling over her captor's identity. Why should she exact revenge on her, an innocent person? Why should she demand the crown, as if it belonged to her? Why should she hide her face behind that ever-present veil, as if afraid of being seen for her true self? Why?

Neither Mario nor Peach expected to have their questions answered in the way they soon would be...

* * *

Mario socked Bowser in the jaw. Roaring in pain, the Koopa King tried to crush his plumber nemesis by leaping forward onto him, but Mario dodged the body slam and seized Bowser by his spiky tail as the oversized Koopa skidded to the floor.

"RAWRRRR! I thought you knew by now, Mario—that old trick don't work on me any more!" With a tremendous heave the Koopa King flipped himself up and over Mario. The red-capped hero suddenly released his grip on Bowser's spiky tail and dove to one side, allowing Bowser to crash to his back on the stone floor of his throne room. Mario coolly approached his now-helpless enemy.

"And _that_ trick doesn't work on _me_ any more, either," he retorted with a grin. "I've learned a few things since you last tried that one on me."

Bowser waved his limbs helplessly in the air. "Grrr. I can guess who you're here for."

"Where's Professor Gadd?" demanded Mario.

"Yeah, figured it was him you were after. He's locked up in my dungeon for insulting me. That twerp doesn't know when to shut his trap." Bowser groaned. "But I ain't givin' you the key!"

"Say again?" Mario asked innocently as he prepared to slam his fist into Bowser's tender midsection.

"I ain't givin' it to you!

"Blurgh!" Bowser gagged as Mario pounded him in the belly, knocking the wind right out of him. The Koopa King finally succeeded in regaining his breath. "All right, all right! You can have it! Here!" Bowser produced an iron key, which Mario promptly snatched from his scaly hand and pocketed.

"I'd say it's been a pleasure, Bowser, but that wouldn't exactly be the truth. See ya!" Mario raced out of the throne room, leaving Bowser in his helpless state.

"KAMMY, YOU OLD HAG!" roared Bowser. "Get in here and help me up! NOW!!"

* * *

"So the seven Guardians still reside at the castle."

The messenger bowed low. "Yes, O Great One. They apparently have no intentions of leaving."

"Hmmm..." The woman referred to as the Great One stroked her veil gently. "I see. You may go." Her black eyes burned behind the translucent film shrouding her face.

As the courier left the room, the Great One brooded over the situation in silence. She preferred silence. None of this joyful squealing of children and the strains of music entering her ears at all hours. The quiet was much the better atmosphere, especially for thinking…and plotting.

_The Rainbow Guardians must not be allowed to interfere with the plan this time,_ she said to herself. _The power they wield—those Rainbow Discs—destroyed the Shadow Legion effortlessly. If they resist me, I will fail. And failure...failure is something I __will__ not tolerate._ Abruptly she rose, stepped down from the platform on which sat her silver throne, and began to pace up and down the throne room, thinking and talking to herself.

"Those seven girls who guard the Discs must be neutralized. They present too great a threat, a threat that must be eliminated before I can get my hands on ALL the rainbow objects...and that pathetic Peach." Mentally she reviewed the Rainbow Guardians, mentally checking them off one by one—Ruby, the mind reader; Amber, user of solar fire; Citrine, the calm and collected controller of electricity; Emerald, that childish Guardian who could teleport herself anywhere instantly; Aquamarine, wielder of ice; Sapphire, the one who could bend all energies to her will; and Amethyst, the transformation artist. The Great One shook with rage as she remembered what she had been told of the fate of the mighty Shadow Legion—how they had been wiped out so quickly and completely by those accursed Guardians and that chubby plumber Mario. In her mind's eyes she saw again the Shadow King and Queen trembling before her, attempting to explain their failure.

"The Shadows Royal will yet have their role to play," she muttered, "but I will need something stronger than they to eliminate the Guardians. Something more...subtle. Hmmm..." The Great One fell silent as she formulated her plan of attack. Her straight, jet-black hair, cascading down her back almost to her lavender miniskirt and longer, clingy black skirt, hung perfectly still, catching the gleam of the fluorescent lamps overhead. At last she raised her head from her reverie.

"Zaron! I summon you!"

Instantly there was a puff of thick black smoke in front of the Great One, and there stood before her the dark specter Zaron, dressed in his ragged black cloak, face shrouded in the shadows of his hood. His fiery red eyes glowed hotly from their sockets. He clutched a black staff tipped with a mystic purple gemstone—it was the Staff of Shadows, capable of controlling all darkness in accordance with Zaron's wishes. This evil creature bowed low to the Great One.

"Your wish, O Great One?" His voice rasped in his throat.

She regarded him coolly. "Get in touch with my contacts. Tell them...it is time for the seven. They'll know what you mean."

"Yes, Master," replied Zaron swiftly, and he vanished from the room.

* * *

Tentatively Princess Peach picked up the telephone receiver and dialed. She seated herself on her bed's pink comforter. A lump settled in her stomach as she counted the rings, wondering what she could possibly say for herself. One ring...two...three...

"Hello?"

"Hello, Shyga?" Peach took a deep breath. "This is Princess Peach."

There was an explosion of questions from the female Shy Guy on the other end of the line, and Peach held the receiver away from her ear until it died down. "You're wondering where she is, aren't you?"

Shyga answered in the affirmative.

Again Peach took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm just going to be straight out with you, Shyga. She's dead."

More frantic questions.

"No, no," Peach hastened to say, "_she's_ here with me. In fact, that's why I'm calling. I need to know if I should send Aster home or what. Don't worry, she's just fine. Just...tell me what to do."

There was silence on the receiving end.

"Shyga?"

Finally the Shy Guy girl's voice came through the receiver. Peach listened, and her eyes widened. "No, I wouldn't even consider it—" She broke off as Shyga interrupted with an insistence in her tone. Peach sighed. "You seriously think that's best for her?"

Shyga affirmed her previous statement.

"All right," Peach sighed, "I'll do it for your sake—and Daisy's."

Shyga asked another question.

"Yes, I'll do that too. Mm-hm. Goodbye."

Peach hung up the phone and sat in silence on her bed, momentarily stunned. She'd been given a tremendous task. Could she handle it adequately...and do it as Daisy would have? After pondering for a moment, she rose to her feet, went to the door of her spare bedroom, and opened it.

The spare bedroom was themed in pink, as was her own. A soft blue carpet covered the floor. A queen-size bed, complete with pink silken bed curtains, sat in royal splendor against the far wall, next to the ornate nightstand and dresser set. Built into the left wall was a sliding-door closet.

"Aster?"

No one answered.

"Aster..."

A giggle issued from the closet.

Peach put her hands on her hips. "I know you're in there, Aster. Come on out..."

There was no response.

Stealthily Peach crept up to the closet and suddenly shoved the sliding door aside. There was a girlish scream, then laughter as a young girl in a green silk dress tumbled out of the closet on top of Peach. The Princess playfully pushed her little assailant off her and got to her feet laughing. The little girl named Aster sprang up and flopped herself on the bed, still giggling.

"All right, Aster," Peach said at last, finally getting herself under control, "enough fun and games. I need to tell you something important." She sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to her. Immediately Aster bounced across the bed and sat down, dangling her legs off the edge. In this position the red oval gem on her chest was finally visible—a sure indication that this little child was a princess in her own right.

Peach stroked Aster's auburn hair gently. "Do you remember what I told you earlier about your staying with me until I could send you home?"

The little seven-year-old nodded, listening with rapt attention.

"Well, I just called Shyga—you know her—and she told me that, instead of sending you back, I should keep you here with me until you're grown-up enough to handle running a kingdom." Peach watched closely to gauge Aster's reaction to this potentially upsetting news.

Aster's lower lip quivered. "You—You mean I can't go home?"

"Not yet," Peach answered gently.

The tears began to flow. "But I want to go home! I want to see Shyga and play with her in the castle garden! I want to climb the apple tree in the courtyard so the watchman will yell at me! And I want to—"

"Aster," Peach hastily interrupted, "not yet. You need to learn some things first. And since your sister is gone, I'm the only one who can teach you. Please, Aster—be patient."

Sobbing, Aster flung herself onto her pillow and wept into the cotton fabric. "I want to go home!" she cried. "Why did Daisy have to die?! I want her back! _Daisy!!_"

The question struck Peach with its logic. Why _had_ Daisy died so cruelly at the hands of the Great One? Even though four days had passed since her ashes had been scattered to the wind, it felt like an eternity. Peach was at a loss for words. She simply sat where she was, pondering the question. But, try as she might, she could not come up with a satisfactory answer.

* * *

"You guys heard already?"

"Yeah, we're go on the original plan. When do we strike?"

The first speaker, a female Toad, glanced around the room at her five partners. "As soon as possible. Harry, you take the first. The knife. You know what that means."

Harry, dressed in his Toad-sized battle armor, nodded solemnly. "Tonight."

"Bill, get in touch with Goomther and Doopliss," ordered the original speaker.

"Will do," responded the Toad named Bill.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway outside. Instantly the little group disappeared through a side door. A minute later Russ T., captain of the Mushroom Kingdom Royal Guard, strode into the chamber on his routine patrol of the castle. Satisfied that all was as it should be, he left, never suspecting the fatal conference that had taken place under his very nose only minutes before.

* * *

Peach sat on the bed beside Aster's prone form for a few moments, softly stroking the little girl's head in an attempt to comfort her. After a little while she said gently, "It's time for dinner, Aster."

"I'm not hungry." Aster's choked voice was muffled by her pillow. The tears still streamed from her eyes, staining the pillowcase with moisture.

Quietly, like a charitable angel, Peach rose from the bed and glided to the door. "If you get hungry, just tell me, OK? I'll leave you alone for a while and check on you later."

The Princess left the spare bedroom and reentered her own chamber, shutting the separating door softly behind her. She paused for a moment before her full-length mirror to adjust her crown slightly.

"The poor girl..." murmured Peach sympathetically. "I hate to see her like this. Hopefully some time to herself will calm her down a bit. Aster..." Peach gave her blonde locks a tuck here and there and finally left her rooms entirely, heading for the dining hall.

As Peach entered the long, spacious hall, a smile spread across her face. She took her seat at the head of the polished walnut table as usual. Gazing down the long line of familiar faces, she again smiled as she picked out those faces that had not been there the first time she'd sat here in the dining hall as a small child.

To her right, a few chairs down, sat Russ T. and his lovely wife Rachel, Peach's personal servant and organizer. Between the two was their son Michael, an eight-year-old who was absolutely obsessed with his dad's profession of soldiering. The young boy was dressed in a mock-up of his father's battle armor.

Peach looked to her left and saw the seven Rainbow Guardians—Ruby, Amber, Citrine, Emerald, Aquamarine, Sapphire, and Amethyst—seated in a row, talking lightly amongst themselves. The seven girls were nearly identical, each of them wearing similar rainbow-colored robes, but one detail made it a simple matter to tell them apart—their hair. Each Guardian's hair was the hue of her respective rainbow color; Ruby's was deep red, Amber's carrot orange, and so forth.

Seated just past the Guardians, next to Amethyst, was a man dressed in the clothing of a forester. His brown cloak covered much of his green tunic and rough brown leggings. While wearing this peculiar garb, Athos was by no means a dirty hermit. He had once been one of the three Shadow Aides, a servant to the Shadows Royal, but now worked for the Princess as a courier. He and Amethyst kept smiling at each other despite repeated warning glares from the stoic Citrine.

On Athos's left sat a powerfully-built Koopa with a rifle strapped to his back. Athos turned to him and addressed him as "Hardshell." This calm, even-tempered Koopa commando was the former spy/assassin for Bowser himself, and with his black steel shell and matching black leather boots, he still looked the part. Obviously this Koopa was no one to play around with.

"Where's Yoshi?" Peach suddenly inquired. "He wouldn't miss a meal if you paid him."

"He returned to his home only an hour ago, Your Highness," offered Athos in his precise English. "He appeared to be homesick."

"Well, that makes three fewer people here since Wario and Waluigi left yesterday," Peach commented. "Are we all ready to start eating?"

"No," spoke up Luigi from the right side of the long dining table. "Mario's not here."

"Ah-ah, don't speak too soon, bro," came a familiar voice from the dining room door. Everyone looked over to the door to see Mario himself entering the room with Professor Elvin Gadd in tow.

"Professor!" exclaimed Peach. "How nice of you to join us! Please, sit down!"

"I reckon I could stay for a bit," the Professor said with a grin as he seated his small, elderly frame on Luigi's right-hand side. "Pleasure to see you again, Your Highness."

Peach smiled in response as Mario sat down between her and Luigi. As everyone was now present, the meal began, and a lively dinner conversation started bouncing from person to person like the puck in a game of air hockey.

"So, Ruby," began Peach after swallowing a mouthful of Shroom Steak, "did Leika tell you where she was going? I was expecting her for dinner as well..."

"Yes," replied the first Guardian. "She said she was returning to her homeland. I really can't blame her. If I had gone through what she did, I would want to return home myself."

"Of course. I should have known," said Peach almost apologetically. "That makes four missing people, then." She helped herself to some Koopasta. "That poor Rainbow Fairy..."

Mario spoke around a mouthful of dinner roll. "Profeshor, doesh Bowsher shtill have dat Cwoneificashunisher?"

"The what?" asked Rachel in puzzlement.

"The Cloneificationizer," answered the Professor. "Bowser sure wasn't too imaginative when he named the thing. Yep, he's still got it, far as I know. Why?"

Mario swallowed. "Then Luigi and I are gonna go take that thing out tomorrow morning. I just hope Bowser hasn't managed to clone anyone _else_ by now," he finished with a serious look at the Princess.

That comment was all Peach needed to set her thoughts whirling with a torrent of memories. As the conversation continued in the background, her mind drifted back to that horrible night, a scant eight days ago...

_"Let me go, you witch!"_

_Kammy Koopa responded by flying faster, myself trussed up and bound tightly to her broomstick. "I'm not going to keep His Angriness waiting!" she screeched in reply. "He'll have my head if I do!"_

_"I said let me GO!!" I screamed at my captor. I struggled fiercely against my ropes and nearly made Kammy crash into a tree as we zipped through the forest. The old Magikoopa angrily recovered her balance and sped up again, making the trees just a blur as we passed them..._

_"Har har har! Aw, poor Peach got a little dizzy going so fast?" clucked Bowser sarcastically as he looked at my woozy expression. Being treated so roughly so late at night was getting to me. Bowser lost no time in taking me, dead-tired, to his newly-constructed laboratory, built courtesy of his newly-conscripted "helper"—Professor Elvin Gadd. The old man had been laboring on a machine of mammoth proportions._

_The Cloneificationizer. It stretched from tiled floor to ten-foot ceiling, and was easily twenty feet long and ten feet deep. Its main features were two huge upright plastic tubes anchored to either end of the monster—tubes large enough to accommodate a full-grown man each. Countless wires ran from the tops of these tubes to the central control panel, a dizzying array of knobs, switched, levers, meters, dials, and whatnot._

_"Put her in there!" Bowser ordered, directing Kammy Koopa to the tube on the right. Immediately the old hag hustled me forward to the indicated spot. Bowser pushed a button on the console, causing the tube to open up like a clamshell. Kammy shoved me inside, sealing the tube shut after me._

_Weakly I tried to break through the reinforced plastic. "Help!"_

_"No one's going to help you in there, Princess Peach!" cackled the old witch._

_Bowser pushed the red "Activate" button on the control board, and my plastic prison began to fill with a horrible yellow chemical. The smell was overpowering. The liquid level rose at an alarming rate. Desperately I tried to keep breathing, to stay above the rising fluid, but soon I slipped under its surface...and then...I don't remember...but Bowser must have cloned me right then. I remember seeing her—the clone—later on that week. Ugh..._

"Peach?"

"Hm?" Peach snapped out of her reverie. "What?"

"What are you thinking about?" asked Mario seriously.

Peach shook her head. "The time Bowser cloned me. That clone of me is still out there somewhere, you know—probably at Bowser's castle, still."

"Yeah, I thought of that. We'll take care of her too when Luigi and I smash that infernal machine to bits."

Peach nodded and took a bite of her pasta.

It was ten o'clock when the Princess finally headed for her rooms to retire for the night. The evening's festivities had all but exhausted her, and all she looked forward to was a long rest in her luxurious bed.

"Good night, Your Highness," called Ruby as she and her sister Guardians passed the Princess in the hall.

"Good night," returned Peach, watching as the seven girls entered their respective rooms; then she turned and entered her own room, shutting the intricately-engraved oaken door tightly behind her.

The Princess removed her crown and favorite blue earrings and placed them on top of her four-foot-tall jewelry cabinet. Slipping out of her pink dress, she folded it neatly and placed it near the door for the laundry crew to pick up the next morning. Next she removed her pink silken nightgown from the wall-length closet and slipped it over her head, sliding her arms through the puffy sleeves and adjusting the gown until it hung just right on her. The nightgown's light, airy material billowed around her in soft folds as she went to the window that faced the courtyard, pulled the shade up, and opened the window wide, admitting the evening breeze. The weather in early August was stiflingly hot, and despite the castle's natural coolness, the rooms around the courtyard received much sun and were always hotter than the rest of the castle. For this reason she had selected her light gown on that warm night. Peach leaned on the windowsill, breathing in the sweet fragrance of the vast flower beds that made the courtyard something of a botanical garden.

A light rap on the door broke the spell of the evening that had cast itself over the Princess. Slightly annoyed at this interruption of her enjoyment, Peach went to the door and opened it. Harry saluted smartly.

"Hello, Harry," she greeted the night-shift guard pleasantly.

"Good evening, Your Highness," Harry replied. "Is everything all right tonight?"

Obviously Harry was on his nightly rounds. "Everything's fine, Harry. Thanks. Good night."

"Good night," he returned as he moved off down the hall toward the Guardians' rooms.

Shutting the door once again, Peach went to her bed, pulled back the blanket, and lay down. The pink silk bed canopy billowed slowly in the light evening breeze, and she lay watching it for a few minutes in tired fascination. At last she rolled over, closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"EEEEEEK! _YAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!_"

Peach sat bolt upright in bed. "What was _that?_" she whispered, somewhat frightened. A door slammed in the hallway, and footsteps pounded down the hall, growing fainter and fainter until they could not be heard.

Quietly the Princess got out of bed, glancing at her wall clock—it was two o'clock. She slowly opened the door and stuck her head into the hall, looking and listening for anything that might betray the presence of an intruder. There was silence for a few moments; then a deathly moan came from the direction of the Guardians' rooms. That was enough for Peach. She rushed out into the hallway and stopped by the girls' rooms, listening. There it was again—definitely coming from Ruby's room. Peach seized the appropriate knob and tore Ruby's door open, calling out for her to answer.

"Ruby! Are you all right? Say something!!"

Another moan came from the floor by the Guardian's bed. "...Princess...unhh..."

"Ruby!!" Peach rushed to the nearly-unconscious Guardian and knelt beside her. Ruby's beautiful red hair gleamed in the moonlight from the window, matching the gleam from another substance soaking her chest and pooling on the carpet—blood. Peach's hands were quickly stained red, but she didn't care. She reached up to the nightstand and seized the telephone.

"Dr. Herb T., get to Ruby's room immediately! We've got an emergency on our hands!"

Peach slammed the phone back onto its cradle and knelt down by Ruby again, gently probing the young lady's body for injuries. Her fingers detected a profusion of blood near Ruby's heart. Feeling further, she discovered what felt like a deep cut very close to her heart—a knife wound? "Oh, Ruby..."

Dr. Herb T. raced into the room with his faithful nurse Lily and the other Rainbow Guardians. Immediately he began to put a stop to the bleeding. After the bleeding was under control, he swathed Ruby's chest in bandages, and the other six Guardians, carefully lifted her onto the stretcher the medical team had brought with them. Together doctor and nurse wheeled the stretcher away.

* * *

"You have to save her, Herb! You _have_ to!" pleaded Peach as she and the doctor stood in Ruby's hospital room after breakfast the next morning.

Dr. Herb shook his head. "That's a tall order, Your Highness. That knife narrowly missed her heart. It's a miracle she's still alive." He looked over at Ruby's prone form lying on the spotless white sheets of her hospital bed, completely still except for the rhythmic breathing pattern that proved she was still living. "She's barely hanging on as it is. I'm surprised that she's actually conscious."

"Get Athos," instructed Peach. "His healing powers can—"

"I've already tried that, Your Highness," interjected Herb, "and he's apparently been given some sort of sleeping drug. He's still sound asleep, and no one who's tried has been able to wake him up. Whoever attempted this murder certainly knew what he was doing."

Peach sat down heavily on the chair by the bed, trying to take all this information in. "What's happening to my peaceful Mushroom Kingdom?" she lamented. "First Bowser cloned me and tried to steal the throne; then the Shadow Queen returned; then the Shadow Legion burned Toad Town to ashes; then the Great One burned Daisy to death; then that Great One tormented me, tried to take my crown from me; and now that the Great One's dead and the Shadows Royal have left, _this_ happens. Oh, what's going on?"

"Shadows Royal?" queried the doctor.

"The name for the Shadow King and Queen." Peach's eyes welled with tears. "That day in the Sacrifice Chamber, the Queen was reawakened—and she possessed Princess Éclair. She took my friend..."

"You'll have to tell me the story sometime," said Dr. Herb, looking at his watch, "but right now I'm due at the lab for blood tests on the samples we took from Ruby." He rushed from the room, his white coat flapping behind him.

Peach gently stroked Ruby's feverish forehead. "Ruby..."

The Guardian's eyes fluttered open. "Princess Peach...I..."

"Shhh, you just lie still," instructed the Princess gently. "You're very fortunate to be alive after last night. Rest."


	2. Developments of the Stranger Sort

"What happened to you last night?" Peach inquired softly as she sat beside Ruby's hospital bed.

The red-haired Guardian tried a deep breath to get enough wind to speak, but only accomplished a coughing fit. Peach laid her hands on her friend to steady her.

"Easy, Ruby. Don't push yourself."

"I...I was asleep in my room," whispered Ruby hoarsely. "There was a noise...I woke up...and sensed someone in the room with me. I read his thoughts—he intended to kill me...that was my first scream..."

"And the second?"

"...When he stabbed me... He lunged at me before I could get out of the way...thankfully he missed..."

"By a fraction of an inch, apparently," Peach added sympathetically. "I'm just glad you're alive. Did you get a look at him?"

"All I saw...was a suit of armor..." coughed the first Guardian.

Peach rose with a start as Ruby lapsed back into semiconsciousness. "Armor... The guards!" She hit the intercom button on the wall. "Russ T., report to Ruby's room immediately!"

Within thirty seconds the stalwart captain stood at attention before the Princess. The taller-than-average Toad saluted smartly.

"Russ, Ruby just told me that her attacker wore a suit of armor."

Russ caught on immediately. "So you're thinking this was an inside job?" he inquired.

"I want every guard who was on duty last night standing here in this room in five minutes, including you."

"Yes, Your Highness!" the captain responded and rushed off, armor clinking.

Peach sank down by Ruby's bed. "We've already lost Daisy, Éclair, _and_ Toadsworth in just the past three weeks. I'm not going to lose anyone else!"

Five minutes later the last night's guards were assembled in the hospital room. "We're all here, Your Highness," reported Russ. "Including me."

Peach rose and faced the assembled company of fifty Toad guards, all in full battle armor. "Which of you were on patrol in the main building last night?"

Twenty guards raised their hands.

"Which of _you_ were in the west wing?" she asked, addressing the raised hands.

Eight hands remained raised; the others went back down.

The Princess scrutinized these eight with an eagle eye, probing for guilty expressions, nervous eyes, fidgety fingers. Nothing. All eight stood at attention like their comrades, meeting her gaze with straight faces and level eyes. At length Peach turned to Russ.

"Search them."

The captain instantly carried out the order, performing a full body search on each of the eight suspects. His experienced fingers turned up nothing.

"I didn't think it would be this easy, Your Highness," he said resignedly. "They're all clean as a whistle. No evidence whatsoever."

Peach sighed. "Keep an eye on those eight, Russ. That's all for now. You may—"

A gunshot rang out in the hall outside the room. Russ bolted for the door and tore it open to reveal Amber, the second Rainbow Guardian, face-down on the tile floor, her right shoulder bloodied and broken. The captain gave a shout that brought the medical team scurrying to her aid.

Peach watched from the door, her hand over her mouth. "Not again... Not another...!"

Amber gritted her teeth as the nurses lifted her onto a hospital bed. Immediately the doctor administered painkiller before wheeling her down the hall to another room.

Russ turned to Peach. "That about blows the theory out of the water, Your Highness. All the night-shift guards were in the room with you when Amber was shot. Whoever attacked her wasn't one of them."

Peach fell back in her chair. "So what you're saying is..."

"I'm saying that perhaps Ruby wasn't attacked by one of the guards."

"But Ruby said—"

"I'm not saying anything definite, Your Highness," Russ hastened to say. "Just naming a possibility. Be thankful that whoever it was had poor aim."

"You may go, Russ. Keep an eye on those eight guards," she repeated. The captain saluted and marched out of the room with his men.

Peach left Ruby to her rest and went down the hall to the adjacent room to check on Amber. The second Guardian lay on her own bed in her room, which was nearly identical to Ruby's. An IV was dripping painkiller into her veins, and a heavy bandage covered her right shoulder. She smiled.

"Hello, Your Highness. Sorry I'm so much trouble."

"No, no, Amber, it's all right. You couldn't help it and you know it." Peach took a seat by the bed and faced Amber. "So what happened to _you?_"

"Somebody shot me from behind. I didn't even get a look at him, either." She smiled ruefully. "I'm just glad I'm not dead right now."

Peach sat in silence. _What is going on?_ she asked herself. _Why is someone trying to kill the Rainbow Guardians? Who would do such a thing? And since Ruby and Amber have already been injured—is Citrine next?_

Leaving Amber's infirmary room behind, the Princess made her way through the hallways into the front lobby, expecting to find Mario and Luigi leaving for Bowser's castle. The entryway, however, was devoid of life. Puzzled, Peach walked out the castle's front door, glancing around for the Mario brothers. Her eye spotted the door on the library tower wide open. Immediately she was suspicious. The library tower door was always kept tightly locked.

Hesitantly she set foot inside the tower. All was quiet. _Too_ quiet. Slowly she climbed the spiral staircase, listening harder with every step. She had that sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach again.

Peach finally found herself at the top of the tower, standing before the great oaken doors of the royal library. She tremblingly reached for the knob.

Voices came from within the library.

Peach jerked her hand back as if she'd been burned. Could these people be the plotters, the would-be murderers of the Guardians? She wasn't sure if she could face such a threat alone. For a moment she considered calling the guards; then, growing a bit bolder, she squared her shoulders and pulled the doors open wide.

"Oh, hello, Peach!" Mario called from the reading table. "The Professor's showing me a diagram of his new invention—" He stopped as he saw the startled look on Peach's face. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Peach found her tongue. "Mario, you scared me half to death! I thought...oh, never mind. Weren't you and Luigi going to Bowser's castle today?"

"Oh, that." Mario smiled. "Luigi's on his way there right now. It's about time he learned the meaning of courage, and I think he'll get the point this time. But _I'm_ staying here with you until these bizarre attacks stop. If the Guardians aren't safe, you certainly aren't. How does that sound?"

Peach sat down beside him at the table. "It sounds fine to me," she replied, returning the smile.

"Do I have your permission to continue, Your Highness?" inquired Professor Gadd from across the table.

"Please do."

"As I was sayin', young feller," continued the Professor, laying his hands on the blueprint before him, "the machine's warpulator receives its power from the magnetic coil right here -" he traced the wiring on the diagram and tapped the coil with his finger—"and transforms that power into a high-energy pulse that can dismember a segment of the space-time continuum and manipulate it at will."

"You and your time machines," Peach laughed. "Explain that in less technical terms, please!"

The Professor grinned. "Never did care much for science, did you, Your Highness? This little number—" he tapped the blueprint again—"is called the Time Sequence Alternator. It has the ability to select a specific geographical area and rewind or fast-forward time in that area. It's not a traditional time machine by any means. It acts on a location, not a person. Also, a standard time machine acts as an insulating 'time bubble' that keeps its occupants from getting any older or younger as they move through time. No such thing exists with the Alternator. Anyone in the selected location will experience a fast-forward or rewind in age." Elvin Gadd lifted his balding head and looked at Peach. "Understand?"

"Yes, I—" Peach suddenly stopped and stared at the diagram. An idea had exploded into her mind with such intensity that it shocked her into silence. The power of Gadd's invention could make possible—WHAT?!

"Daisy!" Peach shot to her feet, knocking her chair backward. "It's Daisy!"

"What's Daisy?" asked a startled Mario. "She's dead, Peach—what are you talking about?"

"Near the Great One's fortress there was a town. It's just down the mountain from the ruins. That's where Daisy was executed! And if we used the Alternator on that spot, we—"

Mario was on his feet by this time, the concept striking him like a bolt of lightning. "We could bring Daisy back to life! It'd be as if she'd never been gone! Peach, that's brilliant!"

"Professor," Peach addressed the slightly-eccentric scholar, "begin building that machine immediately! I'll pay for construction myself!"

"Yes, ma'am," responded the aged professor. "I'll get on it right away!"

Peach took hold of Mario's hand and guided him to the door. "I've got time for a morning walk, Mario," she hinted with a smile.

Mario feigned surprise. "_Really?!_ Wow, that's amazing! In that case, we'll just have to take one, won't we?"

Before Peach could answer, a single guard came bursting through the library doors, steel armor clinking. "Your Highness!" he cried, breathing heavily. "It's Citrine—they got her!"

"No!" Peach dropped Mario's hand. "Put every guard in the castle on full alert—take no chances! I want the other Guardians safe!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" The guard turned and scrambled down the tower stairs. Peach rushed downstairs behind him, praying all the way.

_Citrine, please—don't die! You can't die! Hold on—I'm coming!_

* * *

"They poisoned her, apparently," Dr. Herb T. said grimly as he and the Princess watched the unconscious Citrine being wheeled out of the operating room. "It was a slow-acting poison that attacked her red blood cells—a hemotoxin. Deadly stuff." He sighed. "I just hope we were able to pump it all out of her."

"Doctor, no one is allowed into the kitchen during meal preparation except me and the cooks." Peach looked both puzzled and worried. "One of the kitchen crew is to blame for this."

"More than likely," the doctor agreed. "And from what happened the other two times, I'd say were dealing with a criminal ring of some sort. Of course, I'm no expert in the area of criminal justice, but that's what I get out of all this."

"Doctor, Citrine's blood pressure and heart rate have stabilized," reported one of the nurses as she walked up to him and handed him the printed report on the Guardian's condition. He took the paper quickly, relief written on his face.

"Thank goodness," he breathed. "She just might pull through after all!"

Peach smiled a little. "Good. I've ordered the guards to stand watch around Ruby's and Amber's rooms. Another squad will report to you in a few minutes. Have them guard Citrine. The culprit may choose to strike a second time while his victims are vulnerable, and I'm not going to let that happen. And...see to it that all three survive."

"I'll certainly do my best," Herb replied confidently.

"Thank you, Doctor." Peach turned and left the infirmary.

* * *

Emerald, Aquamarine, Sapphire, and Amethyst sat around the small wooden table in Emerald's little room, the sun streaming through the window beside the bed and warming their hands as they discussed their predicament.

"I still think we should go back to Rainbow Temple!" affirmed Emerald in her childish voice, her green hair tossing as she nodded her head to back up her statement. "It's not safe here anymore!"

"Patience, Emerald," replied Sapphire in her quiet, passive way. "That may be just what our attackers want us to do. No, the better plan is to stop this threat, not run from it."

"Sapphire has a point," conceded Aquamarine. "If we do leave, the castle will become far more vulnerable to attack. I think we should stay."

Emerald got up in a huff and flounced down on her bed, staring at the dresser in frustration.

Amethyst nodded in agreement. "You're both right. But what can we do to stop this...this murderer? I mean, it's not like he's going to come walking through the door and -"

"Don't move, any of you."

The four Guardians looked up at the door, startled. There, as if in mockery of Amethyst's unfinished sentence, stood one of the royal guards, his glinting steel armor matching the glint in his eyes. His sword hung unused and unneeded in its sheath, for the Toad held a loaded pistol in his hand. He smiled at the shocked expressions of his four victims.

Sapphire was the first to speak. "You're here for us, aren't you?"

The guard pointed his pistol at the Guardian with the dark blue hair. "I sure am, Sapphire. The first three attempts may have been bungled, but the last _four_ won't be. I'll make sure of that!" The pistol clicked ominously as the guard cocked it. Again he grinned as he prepared to put a bullet through Sapphire's heart. The intended victim met his gaze squarely, as if she knew she could not escape and was not going to try.

"So this is how it ends for us," Sapphire said calmly. "You won't see fear in me. None of us fear death. Shoot if you must. You'll pay—someday."

"Shut up," barked the guard, his finger pulling slowly back on the trigger.

Suddenly a stream of lasers punched through the guard's back, dropping him to the floor. The pistol clattered to the floor and went off, the bullet punching a hole in the plaster ceiling.

Hardshell strapped his laser rifle back to his shoulder. "Caught off-guard, huh?" he asked with a straight face as he scanned the room from the doorway.

"Thank you, Hardshell!" burst out Emerald in relief, jumping up from the bed. She rushed the surprised commando and gave him a bear hug. The Koopa's eyes rolled behind his sunglasses as he stoically allowed the childish Guardian to squeeze him.

"Hmph. Don't mention it."

"Hardshell! I heard a gunshot!" Russ T. skidded to a stop beside the commando. "What's going on?!"

Hardshell nudged the dead guard with his boot. "Looks like we've caught our prowler, Russ."

"Harry?!" Russ exclaimed. "He wouldn't dream of killing innocent people! _Harry_ was our mysterious attacker?!"

"Looks like he sure fooled you, Russ," Hardshell said quietly. "Fooled all of us."

Russ shook his head in disbelief. "This is crazy," he said aloud, more to himself than to anyone else.

Hardshell hoisted the body to his shoulder. "One less threat, anyway. Let's go, Russ. We've got a burial to take care of." The two soldiers left Emerald's room, leaving the four Guardians sitting in stunned silence.

* * *

Peach sighed. "So it was Harry?"

"Mm-hm," affirmed Russ. "He was on guard duty in the west wing the night Ruby was stabbed. He must have attacked her too."

"Then he was the one behind it all," guessed Peach. "The problem should disappear now. But keep the guards on the alert, just in case."

Russ saluted and marched from the throne room.

The Princess remained on her golden throne, mulling over the shocking turn the past day and a half had taken. _This should have been a happy time,_ she realized. _The Great One is dead, the Shadow Legion has been destroyed, and the Shadows Royal have fled for their lives. Toad Town is nearly rebuilt since the Legion burned it. And Professor Gadd's machine promises to bring Daisy back to us! Aster will be overjoyed to see her older sister again!_

_But now, mere days after the Legion's defeat, someone tries to kill the Rainbow Guardians. Why? Why wouldn't everyone be thankful to the Guardians for what they've done for us? For defeating the Shadows Royal? Is there something going on that I don't know about? And if so—what?_

* * *

Bill trooped briskly into Toad Town that Friday afternoon. The bright August sun made beads of perspiration stand out on his forehead as the heat penetrated his armor and built up inside his leather underjacket. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he peered down the street, noticing the busyness of the townspeople. The rebuilding process was rapidly nearing completion, although several sections of the town were still lying in charred ruins. It was one of these burned-out areas that Bill headed for, not taking a direct route, but going a roundabout way that gradually led closer to his destination. Soon he was standing on the street next to his target zone, with newly-rebuilt homes and shops on his left and the blackened ruins on the right. Looking nervously around, he saw no one watching him and quickly darted in amongst the ruined structures.

"Pssst. Bill. Over here."

Still glancing around nervously, the Toad guard slipped into one of the charred buildings. Inside were a Goomba and a strange-looking character covered in a white sheet and wearing what appeared to be a blue party hat.

"What's up, Bill?" asked the Goomba in low tones.

"Any orders from the one in charge, Goomther?" Bill questioned.

Goomther shifted his weight to his right foot and leaned against the blackened brick wall behind him. The building was well lit by the sun since the roof had burned completely off. "Freak-sheet here can tell you that."

"The name's DOOPLISS!!" exploded the white-sheeted character.

"Keep it down, wouldja?" Goomther responded angrily. "You'll give us away!"

"Oh, yeah, right," mumbled Doopliss as he fumbled for something amongst the piles of charred wood. "Where'd I put it?"

"Don't tell me you lost the note," grumbled Goomther sarcastically.

"No, it's here somewhere—aHA! Gotcha!" Doopliss pulled a crumpled sheet of paper from the ashes and unfolded it triumphantly, smoothing out the creases with his fingers.

Goomther rolled his eyes. "Sure kept it in good shape, too."

"Well?" asked Bill. "What's it say?"

"...Uh, yeah, plans have changed," muttered Doopliss.

"What?" said Bill impatiently.

Doopliss raised his voice a little. "You're supposed to stop the attacks on the Rainbow Guardians and wait."

"Wait? Wait for what?"

Doopliss whispered lengthy instructions into Bill's ear. A smile spread over the guard's face as Doopliss finished.

"Genius as always," he told his two comrades. "That's outright brilliant. We'll do it."

"Good," Goomther replied. "Freak-sheet -"

"_DOOPLISS!!_"

"Doopliss, get back to our leader with our report."

The somewhat-distracted Doopliss ran from the burned-out building.

"Well, I'd better get back to the castle before I'm missed," Bill said in farewell as he turned to go.

"Keep it under your hat," Goomther replied knowingly.

"I sure will."

Bill left the building and made for the castle. As he trudged down the main road under the blazing sun, he caught sight of someone he knew—a tough-looking Koopa with a black steel shell and boots of the same color. A laser rifle hung from his shoulder strap. Bill gulped and disappeared into the crowd on the street.

"It's Hardshell!" he whispered to himself. "Has he caught on to me? Is he after me?"

Bill waited nervously while Hardshell moved down the street and entered one of the shops. Breathing a sigh of relief, the guard dashed off toward the castle, leaving the Koopa behind him.


	3. Return of the King

The opponents' swords struck one another with tremendous force; then they withdrew and struck again. Tired and drenched with sweat, the two foes struggled fiercely with one another, each striving to overcome the other.

The first battler was human, six feet four inches tall, clad in a suit of tempered steel armor that gleamed brilliantly in the setting sun. His face was strained with exertion and streaked with mingled sweat and blood, and he panted heavily as he swung his blade. The second fighter was a Toad, little more than a boy of eight, also wearing a suit of armor and wielding a sword. He too looked worn, but he had not the injuries of his opponent. Furiously the two mismatched fighters clashed, staining the ground with blood.

Suddenly a blow of the younger dueler's sword caught his opponent off balance. Seeing his enemy teetering, he dealt a second strike that knocked the man down and sent his sword flying out of his hand. Panting from exertion, the Toad boy put the tip of his sword at his opponent's throat. The fallen warrior shakily raised his gauntleted hands in token of surrender.

The spectators in the stadium bleachers went wild, clapping and cheering and whistling for all they were worth. Someone in the stands held up a large placard. It read:

"GO MICHAEL!!!"

As the two opponents exited the arena to thunderous applause and shouting, one of the royal guards pushed his way through the screaming fans to an empty seat. Quickly he sat down and kissed his wife beside him. "How's he doing, dear? Am I too late?" he yelled over the din.

Rachel smiled at him. "He's doing great, Russ!" she shouted back.

The noise of the cheering onlookers died down somewhat, allowing the two to converse normally. "That's my boy!" Russ T. said with a nod and a smile. "I never thought he'd last this long, but he's blown me away! The tournament's almost over!" He looked out over the arena thoughtfully. "Any good contestants this year?"

"Two that I've seen," replied his wife. "Michael's one of them. The other is—"

"Attention!" barked the announcer's voice from the loudspeakers. "We have our finalists! From the first division, we have the Mushroom Kingdom's own Michael Toadfrey! And from the second division, we have possibly the most powerful fighter ever to enter the tournament—the Masked Warrior! This looks to be a tight match, folks! The final round will be held in fifteen minutes!"

Russ looked over at Rachel. "That's him?"

Rachel nodded. "He didn't register his name when he entered. That's what everyone's been calling him."

"Sounds like one tough cookie," Russ remarked dryly. "Come on. Let's go see Michael before the final round starts. He'll need a little pep rally to get him energized for this last fight." He stood and took his wife's hand, guiding her through the mass of spectators toward the stairs.

The couple pushed through the teeming bleachers and descended the steps into the entrance hall of the stadium. As Toads they were at a disadvantage among the many taller species thronging the room.

"Dad!"

Russ quickly pulled Rachel toward the call. He knew that voice.

"Dad! You made it!" Michael, still dripping with sweat, rushed into his father's arms.

Russ squeezed his son as much as Michael's armor would allow. "You're doing great, Michael! Keep going! You're almost to the top!"

Michael squeezed back with a huge smile on his face.

"I remember when I came here to compete for the first time," Russ told his son energetically. "I wasn't half as good as you are now! Make me proud, Michael!"

"Russ..."

The captain looked back at his wife. "What?" he asked, half-surprised at Rachel's warning tone.

Rachel put her hands on her hips. "Russell Toadfrey, quit wanting that boy to win just because you didn't." She shot him a warning look. "This is his battle, not yours."

Russ looked sheepish. "You're right as usual, dear," he admitted. "I didn't realize what I was doing." He held Michael at arm's length. "You're right on track, Michael. Don't give up now!"

"Contestants for the final round, please return to the arena. The referees will direct you to your starting positions. Contestants to the arena, please," boomed the loudspeakers.

"This is it, Michael," Russ said quickly, giving Michael a shake as he gripped his son's shoulders. "Go get 'em!"

"Yes, sir!" Michael bolted from his father's grasp, heading for the arena doors. Russ watched him go, a feeling of pride rising in his heart. Rachel came up beside him and gently took his arm, guiding him back to their seats in the stands to wait for the final round.

"You know, dear," commented Russ, "I seem to recall that you didn't want Michael in this tournament." He looked at his wife with a grin on his face.

Rachel looked reproachful. "Russell, you _know_ I changed my mind, you little tease!"

Russ laughed. "I know, honey, I know. I just couldn't resist. See what you would have missed? Michael's going to walk away from this with the trophy, just you wait and see."

If Rachel had had a reply, it would have been drowned out by the announcer starting to introduce the finalists over the PA system. Husband and wife listened with anticipation, waiting for the match to begin.

From his seat in the staff booth, the announcer boomed out the names of the top two contestants. "On the east side of the arena, we have today's most popular contender—the Masked Warrior!"

The crowd erupted with cheers as a powerful-looking figure strode from the eastern arena entrance, cloaked in black and wearing a dark mask over his face. In his hand was a menacing steel sword that reflected the sun's setting rays. He seemed oblivious to the cheering around him as he gazed at the western doors, waiting for his opponent to come and face him. His very presence exuded an ominous chill.

"And on the west side, the challenger, and the youngest contestant ever to reach the final round—Michael Toadfrey!"

Again the spectators roared as Michael bounded from the west doors. His armor shone like burnished bronze in the orange rays of the sun. He looked almost angelic, so innocent and pure—and deadly in his skill with the sharp blade he gripped in his right hand. The Masked Warrior stared coldly at his young opponent from behind his mask.

"You mock me," muttered the black warrior. "You would send a boy to fight a man's battle?" He tightened his grip on his sword. "He shall taste my steel ere long—as it pierces his youthful heart."

"Let the final battle BEGIN!" shouted the announcer as the gong sounded its crashing note, signaling the start of the last round of the World Swordfighting Tournament.

Silence settled over the stadium. A brisk breeze blew through the arena, making the Masked Warrior's cloak flutter in the wind. Gripping his sword, the muscular warrior slowly moved toward his opponent. Michael braced himself for a sudden attack, but it did not come. Instead, the Masked Warrior stopped in the center of the arena and gazed around the stadium at the silent spectators.

"You've done well to come this far, little boy," the Masked Warrior said to Michael with iciness in his deep male voice. He leaned forward a bit and looked Michael in the eye. "But I'm afraid you've come too far for your own good." With that, his cloak fell from his back, revealing a red tunic with a long black vest over it. Completing the outfit were a pair of black leggings and two black velvet boots. He cast his sword aside, and his hand went to his mask.

"What the—" Russ stared at the man. "It—it can't be—"

The mask fell from the warrior's eyes, revealing a human face with a cruel, leering expression. He reached beneath his vest and withdrew a blood-red crown. Lifting it high over his head, he shouted to the horrified crowd, "Behold your king! Your _Shadow_ King!!"

Rachel screamed.

Setting the crown on his head, the Shadow King again reached under his vest and brought forth a sword twice as large as his first. Russ started when he saw the massive blade. Michael backed away from his unmasked enemy, frightened.

"The Aeshma Sword!" shouted the King. "You may have cleansed it of its demon power, but its blade is yet sharp and cries for blood to avenge the Shadow Legion!" The Shadow King threw his left arm up, and with a crack of thunder, a pulsating dark-energy barrier encased the entire stadium, casting a shadow over the arena. Terrified screams rang out from the bleachers.

The King again fixed Michael with venomous red eyes. "Not one of these thousands will leave this place," he breathed menacingly. "After I have killed you, every last person here will fall to the Aeshma Sword. I will avenge my noble Legion today!"

Slowly the Shadow King advanced toward Michael, who backed against the arena wall and froze there as if paralyzed. The boy's breathing was rapid and shallow, and his face was chalky white.

"Come, little boy!" breathed the King vehemently as he stalked Michael. "Fight like a man!"

Michael was too terrified to reply.

"Fight!" exploded the King. "Fight! Or I will begin with THEM!" He swept his arm around the stadium at the spectators.

At this threat, Michael seemed to snap out of his terror. Cautiously he edged away from the King and out into the open arena. His opponent smiled wickedly.

"No!" Rachel jumped up and would have run down and leaped into the arena had not her husband grabbed her. "Russ, let go! It's the Shadow King! Michael—!!"

Russ held his wife tightly until she ceased struggling. "Rachel, no. Sit down. There…there's nothing we can do for him now."

Rachel burst into tears and allowed herself to be placed in her seat again. The captain watched his son with groaning heart. There was no hope now.

Michael now stood near the arena's center, and he and the Shadow King faced each other silently for a minute or so. Then, with an unearthly yell, the King rushed his eight-year-old enemy, the Aeshma Sword poised to strike. Michael braced himself and lashed out with his own sword, knocking the King's blade off aim. Seeing that he had missed, the King brought his sword around in a vicious arc toward Michael's neck. The boy ducked the decapitating stroke and jabbed his own blade into the King's right arm. Jerking his arm back, the Shadow King glared at Michael.

"Not bad—for a mere boy." He pointed accusingly at his adversary. "But do not think your skill will prevail against the might of the Shadow King!"

Immediately the King unleashed a fury of melee attacks which Michael could barely keep up with. He blocked and parried for all he was worth, never having a chance to counterattack, slowly being forced backward toward the arena wall. Once pinned to the wall, he would have nowhere to flee. The King would have him. Rachel put her hands over her eyes to hold back the tears.

Suddenly two petite arms seized Michael from behind in a crushing grip. The little boy cried out, dropped his sword, and struggled against his new assailant, but was held fast. There were more screams from the stands.

"My Shadow Queen!" greeted the King with an evil smile. "You have come!"

Rachel buried her face in her husband's shoulder, unwilling to watch.

The black-dressed Shadow Queen held the struggling Michael tightly. Her eyes met those of her husband's, and her red lips parted.

"Finish him."

With another wicked smile, the King raised the Aeshma Sword over Michael's head. Michael stopped fighting the Queen's hold on him and stared at the huge blade in terror.

"STOP!!!"

The King turned his head, still holding the Sword high. The Queen breathed hate through her teeth at the interrupter of their cold-blooded murder.

A lone woman stood not ten feet from the Shadows Royal and their helpless victim. Her hair was emerald green, shimmering as it blew in the dusk breeze. She was dressed in a rainbow-hued robe, and her green eyes sparked with childish indignation.

"Let him go!" she commanded in a girlish voice.

Lowering the Aeshma Sword, the King glowered at the intruder. "Emerald," he said under his breath. His eyes blazed. "Get out of this place. This is our business, not the Rainbow Guardians'." He raised the Sword as if to hack her in two with it.

Emerald's eyes blazed back at him. "You'll not kill him!"

"Oh, won't I?" The King smiled again and started to take a swing at Emerald—then toppled onto his face as Emerald warped behind him and slugged him in the back. Emerald turned to the Queen, authority on her youthful face.

"Release him!"

The Shadow Queen fixed Emerald with a defiant glare. "Never."

Emerald raised her right hand high, and her body began to glow bright green as the rainbow energy in her manifested itself. An expression of fear flitted across the Shadow Queen's face.

"No... Not that!" The Queen cowered back from the glowing Guardian.

The King was on his feet by this time. He moved to his queen's side. "Don't think you'll get the chance to use that power on us!" he growled. "We'll get you Guardians someday, i_someday_/i...sooner than you think!"

The Royals faded into nothingness, and Emerald lowered her hand; she ceased to glow. The dark barrier around the stadium vanished.

"Are you OK, Michael?" Emerald asked anxiously. The eight-year-old nodded in relief.

* * *

"Not the Shadows Royal!" cried the Princess.

Emerald nodded. "They're around again."

Peach was obviously frightened. She moved restlessly about the throne room, unable to remain still. The only sound was that of her heels clicking against the marble floor.

"Your Highness, please," asked Russ T. at length, "try to remain calm."

"Calm?!" The Princess whirled around and confronted the captain. "CALM?!?! The Royals are back, and you want me to keep i_CALM?!?!?!_/i" She was almost in a rage. "That's insanity!" Russ backed away a little, surprised at Peach's unusual outburst.

Mario put a hand on her shoulder, and the anger seemed to melt from her body. She sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Russ." Peach lifted tear-filled eyes and looked at the captain of the guard. "I'm just really...stressed out. That's not much of an excuse, though, for snapping at you like that. Forgive me."

"Forgiven, Your Highness," replied Russ readily.

Mario took Peach by the shoulders and looked her in the face. "You're tired, Peach. You're going to bed—NOW."

Peach protestingly tried to brush him off. "I'm fine, Mario, really. Just...mentally strained."

"You need rest," replied Mario firmly.

"That is true...Your Highness..."

Mari, Peach, Russ T., and Emerald turned to the golden double doors of the throne room to see the lovely Amethyst supporting a very tired-looking Athos as he struggled to remain on his feet. Athos smiled wanly. "You do seem...tired...Your Highness."

"I could say the same of you, Athos," retorted Peach playfully. "How are you feeling?"

"I have felt better in the past," Athos replied wearily "I am somewhat ashamed of myself, however. I have only just awoken and now find that it is time to prepare for bed!" He chuckled at his own joke.

"He's finally recovered from that sleeping drug, thank goodness," Amethyst reported with obvious relief.

"I would advise that you take some rest, Your Highness," pressed Athos.

Peach looked back at Mario, who gave her the "you-know-you-need-it-so-admit-it" look. She sighed again. "It seems the majority vote is that I go to bed now. I feel like a little girl again, being told when to go to sleep. It's only nine-thirty!"

Mario rolled his eyes.

Luigi burst through the throne room doors, sweaty and breathing in gasps. "The...the...Bowser's machine...and the clone...I got 'em..." he wheezed.

Mario pounded him on the back. "I told you you could do it!" All Luigi could do was grin as he caught his breath.

"I'm going to bed, Mario," Peach informed the plumber with a smile, knowing that she was giving in to his pressure. Then she looked serious. "In fact, I think we _all_ could use some sleep right about now."

"Luigi and I are going to head home, then," replied Mario. "Good night, Peach."

"Good night, Mario," Peach called back as the brothers left. She and the others dispersed to their rooms for the night.

Amethyst helped the weakened Athos to his room and got him into his bed. As she tenderly drew the blankets over him, he said gratefully, "Thank you, dear Amethyst. It seems I am ever in your debt."

"It's my pleasure, Athos," she replied with a sweet smile.

"Come closer, Amethyst," requested Athos. "I have a secret to share with you."

Obligingly the seventh Guardian bent down to Athos's face so he could whisper into her ear. Athos suddenly kissed her cheek. She jumped, not having expected a kiss, and blushed deep red.

"I love you, Amethyst," said Athos gently. "I am smitten with your kindness—and your beauty."

The blush deepened. "Enough flattery for tonight, Athos," she replied with a bashful smile. "Good night."

"Good night, Amethyst," responded Athos as the fair Guardian turned the lights off and left the room. He heaved a deep sigh and shut his eyes, exhausted.

Stopping outside Athos's door, Amethyst allowed herself to smile that unbelieving yet expectant smile elicited only by romance. She breathed deeply as if to still her fluttering heart, then stepped off down the hall toward her room feeling light and free. Entering her own room, she shut the door and flipped the switch to turn on the lights. Immediately she screamed as, in the light, she saw someone standing in front of her.

"Citrine!" Amethyst stepped back, startled. "You're supposed to be in the infirmary!"

The golden-haired third Rainbow Guardian regarded her sister coldly. "I'm fine." Her face held a smoldering anger.

Amethyst rolled her eyes tiredly, sighed, and hung her head, shaking it in frustration. "Please, Citrine, no more. Not again."

"Give up this stupid idea of marrying Athos," Citrine began in disgust, ignoring Amethyst's plea. "You're a Rainbow Guardian first and foremost. You can't abandon your duty like this."

"How many times must I tell you that I am not abandoning my duty by marrying him?!" Amethyst exclaimed, exasperated.

"You swore the pledge like the rest of us," Citrine informed her coldly. "'To keep and protect the Rainbow Discs until death, as a duty sacred and feared above any other,' I believe it reads in part. If you marry Athos, what if the duties of Guardianship and matrimony conflict?"

Amethyst was taken aback at this pointed question and did not reply.

"It's one or the other, Amethyst." Citrine smiled slightly, certain she'd cornered her sister at last on this issue. "Make your choice." With that, the third Guardian brushed past Amethyst and left the room, leaving her sister alone and bewildered.

* * *

A huge plume of smoke shot from the dungeon doorway, quickly followed by a coughing and hacking little old man in a white lab coat and thick spectacles.

Mario stuck his head around the corner and quickly retreated as the smoke billowed out into the dungeon hallway toward him. After the smoke dissipated a bit, the intrepid plumber came trooping back through the hallways to the site of the explosion.

"Professor? You OK?"

The old man sneezed and wiped his nose with his handkerchief. "I'm just fine, sonny, and I plan to stay that way, you hear?" He shook his head as he surveyed his workspace. "Still don't know why those guards set me up to work down here in this hole..."

Mario chuckled. "Is the Time Sequence Alternator almost ready?"

"Yep," came the prompt reply. "Should be ready any time now." Professor Gadd held up a complex electrical component looking something like a spider with two dozen legs. "This here energy router won't sit right without blowing the system all to pieces! I'm trying to stick it somewhere where it won't cause trouble—shouldn't take long!" The eccentric professor disappeared back into the still-smoky cell.

"Let me know when it's done!" Mario hollered as he left the castle dungeons.


	4. A Princess's Question

"It's done!" exclaimed Professor Gadd as he wiped his grimy, oil-stained hands on a clean rag. "Finally! And the energy router's functioning perfectly."

"Did I hear the word 'done'?" came a sweet woman's voice through the cell door as Princess Peach walked into the room. She smiled at the professor.

"You sure did, Your Highness," replied Gadd.

"Good. I'll have the guards bring it upstairs right away." The Princess turned and swept out of the room, trying to hide the tears. All she could think of was Daisy and the fiery fate she had met at the hands of that horrid Great One. Soon, though, she might be brought back from the ashes. _Please,_ Peach pleaded silently, _please work..._

It was nearly noon by the time the guards managed to lug the awkward and heavy Time Sequence Alternator up from the dungeons and out into the castle's front yard. There the somewhat-cubical steel machine was loaded into a special truck Gadd had retooled for the express purpose of carrying his prized invention. The modified pickup was equipped with a padded cargo bed, extra-strong suspension struts, slightly-deflated balloon tires to absorb bumps and jolts, and of course the Gadd Science logo emblazoned on the hood.

"I haven't run diagnostic tests, haven't triple-checked all the parts, haven't this, haven't that...I think this is a bad idea to rush off and test this thing right off-hand," Gadd muttered as he revved the truck's engine and prepared to start off.

Mario hopped into the truck's passenger seat and was about to close his door when he heard another engine moving closer. He stuck his head out of the truck and stared as a pink limousine with hubcaps, trim, and door handles all of gold came rolling to a stop next to him. Princess Peach opened the door and smiled at Mario from the back seat.

"I thought we'd take the limo this time," she called, beckoning him inside. Mario eagerly jumped from the truck, allowing Luigi to take his old seat, and got into the royal limousine. To his surprise, Princess Aster was also seated inside, and she smiled shyly at him as he sat down next to her.

"What on earth possessed you to use the limo?" Mario asked Peach, incredulous. "You've been using horse and carriage for over ten years!"

"I know," she replied readily, "but the carriage can't keep up with the Professor's truck. And I want to get to the old fortress site as fast as possible." Peach signaled Swiff T., the chauffeur, and immediately the limousine began to cruise smoothly forward. A rumbling noise behind the limo told Mario that Professor Gadd was following right behind them with Luigi and the Time Sequence Alternator. The convoy was on its way to that unnamed mountain to the north—the mountain where once had stood the evil Great One's fortress, and the place where Princess Daisy had met her doom. Perhaps...perhaps they would be able to bring Daisy back to life again...

The limousine and truck moved along the hilly forest road for nearly five miles. At last they reached the mountain and began ascending its not-too-steep slope.

"You said there was a town not far from where the fortress was, Peach?" queried Mario.

Peach nodded as she looked out the window. "Mm-hm. It shouldn't be far—" She broke off her sentence, stared out the window at something, and frantically signaled the driver to stop. The limo glided to a halt, and the truck stopped behind it.

"Peach, what is it?" Mario asked, puzzled by her behavior.

"Get out and see for yourself, Mario," was the somewhat-fearful reply as she herself opened the door and climbed out of the vehicle. Mario opened the opposite door and hopped out. He nearly fell over when he saw what Peach was staring at. His eyes got big, and his jaw dropped.

"The—The fortress—it's—"

"It's standing," Peach whispered.

"B-But that's impossible!" Mario spluttered. "We blew it up six days ago! There's no way it could have been rebuilt in less than a week! A place this big would take at least a _month!_"

Peach's eyes were troubled. "Get back in the car, Mario. We're going to make this trip into town as quick as possible." She and Mario got into the limousine, and the little caravan picked up speed again, moving quickly toward the mountainside town.

"There it is, dead ahead," called Swiff T. to his passengers as he spotted the town. "Looks rather small—and I don't see anyone around."

Peach shivered a little, and Mario put his arm around her. "Peach?"

"I'm fine, Mario. Just...just memories."

Mario squeezed her a little, and she smiled wanly.

The two vehicles rolled into the town via the main road, which was entirely cobblestones. The drab wooden buildings, once brown, were weathered a dull gray, giving the place an atmosphere of dreariness and despair. The few people on the sidewalks turned and stared with vacant, hollow eyes at the limousine and pickup as the vehicles passed them. Peach looked into those haunting eyes and shivered. _The Great One's iron rule over these people was...killing... They have no personality left. They're like...machines..._

"It'll be OK, Peach," said Mario comfortingly. "Even if the fortress _is_ standing, we know the Great One's dead. There's no way she could have survived that grenade going off in her face, much less the entire building collapsing on her. You're safe. She won't be coming after you anymore."

The Princess said nothing.

After a few minutes of silence, the limousine cruised to a stop, and Swiff T. shut off the engine. He quickly got out of the driver's seat and opened the door for the Princess. Peach thanked him somewhat distractedly ad carefully stepped from the vehicle. Mario and Aster were right behind her. The next moment Gadd's truck pulled up and stopped beside the limo, and Luigi and the Professor scrambled out of the cab.

The group now stood in the town square, a large open area paved with cobblestones and circled with buildings. Peach's eyes were riveted on the center of the square, where a large black scorch mark stood out boldly from the cobbles.

Peach shuddered. "That's it... Daisy..." She brushed the tears away. "Professor, target the center of the square."

"Got it!" The Professor climbed into the truck bed next to the Time Sequence Alternator and flipped the switch to turn it on. Instantly the Alternator whirred into action, its complex circuitry booting up and going into standby mode. After waiting a few seconds for the machine to warm up, Gadd punched in a series of coordinates on the Alternator's numeric keypad. An LCD screen next to the keypad immediately displayed the town square. Elvin Gadd selected the center of the square by touching the screen, and the screen highlighted the indicated area in blue.

"How far back do we need to go?" questioned the Professor, craning his neck around the Alternator to see the Princess.

"Six days, Professor—to Sunday, August 6," Peach responded in a choked voice. "Seven o'clock in the morning."

Professor Gadd promptly entered the date and time into the Alternator using the keypad. A yellow button next to the screen began to flash, and he pushed it.

"Initiating continuum segmentation sequence in 3...2...1..." A flash of light burst from the center of the square, then nothing.

"It's working so far," breathed Gadd in relief. "The center of the square is now cut off from the rest of space-time. Segmentation complete." A red button just below the yellow one started flashing. The Professor crossed his fingers. "Here goes! Beginning time rewind!" He pushed the fatal button and held his breath.

Suddenly there seemed to be a bubble around the center of the square, a bubble containing a movie playing in rapid rewind. People rushed backward from one side of the bubble to the other, then vanished just as fast as they had appeared. The scene inside the bubble grew dark, then light, then dark again as sunset and sunrise came in quick succession. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Aster watched in amazement as time in that little area literally "played backward." Upon reaching 7 AM, Sunday, August 6, the rewinding "movie" suddenly paused. Princess Peach nearly lost control of her tears as she saw Daisy again before her, bound to that horrible stake, fear etched into her face. Peach turned to Mario as Aster burst into tears.

"Mario—!" That was all the Princess could say before choking up.

Without a word, Mario dashed forward and leaped into yesterday, going back six days with one jump as he entered the bubble containing the past. Quickly he torched the ropes around the frozen-in-time Princess Daisy with fireballs and wrenched her free of the stake. He retreated back into the present just as rapidly.

Daisy gasped and went limp in Mario's arms, shocked. "Wh-What? Mario—How—?!"

Mario quickly carried the startled princess to Peach and Aster and gently laid her on the ground. "It's OK, Daisy. You're safe now. We're gonna get you out of here."

"Stop right there!"

Mario whirled around to see a menacing silver-armored soldier in a red tunic stalk out of the time bubble. "Return the princess at once!"

"The Great One's personal bodyguard—he's a Paroidian Guard!" Peach screamed. "Mario, watch out!"

Another Paroidian stepped from the bubble, sword in hand.

"Impossible!" Gadd spluttered, punching away at his keypad. "Those guards should be incapable of moving! Time in that area is frozen!"

"Just shut off the Alternator, Prof!" Luigi hollered, backing away from the two hateful-looking soldiers.

"Can't! I have to return time to its normal state first, or the entire continuum might collapse!" The Professor was frantically checking his watch and trying to enter the exact current time into the machine's database.

Another guard set foot in the present.

"And what'll happen if the continuum collapses?" Luigi yelled.

Professor Gadd punched in a few more numbers in rapid staccato. "The universe will be destroyed!"

Luigi gulped. "Not good."

"Almost got it!" Elvin shouted. The yellow button began to flash again, and he immediately smacked it.

A fourth Paroidian Guard stepped from the bubble just as it dissipated, leaving the center of the square untouched and perfectly normal again—but without the scorch mark on the cobblestones. This minor detail went unnoticed by Mario and his companions. They had more important matters to consider—such as four very angry guards with four very sharp swords. Mario readied his fists.

"You'll take Daisy over my dead body!"

The four Paroidians rushed Mario and Luigi, but the brothers leaped to either side, allowing their attackers to pass harmlessly by. Immediately the guards stopped, turned, and attacked again, blades swinging.

Ducking a slash, Mario shot out his leg and tripped one of the guards, sending him sprawling. The other guard attacking Mario was met with a flying kick as Mario performed a backflip and smashed his shoe into the Paroidian's jaw, knocking him out instantly.

Luigi ran at the two guards pursuing him and dove headlong between the legs of one of them, catching him off balance and knocking him to the cobbles. Rolling onto his hands and knees, Luigi scrambled out of the way of the second guard, who wound up stabbing his partner instead of the green-shirted plumber. Enraged, the guard attacked Luigi like a berserker, forcing Luigi to flee.

Mario, seeing his brother running, grabbed the sword from the guard he'd tripped and rushed the one chasing Luigi. Instantly the guard turned and made a tremendous slash at Mario, which the plumber easily dodged. Mario took advantage of his foe's temporary lack of protection to bring his stolen sword down on his enemy's head, killing him on the spot. The guard Mario had tripped stumbled to his feet, only to have his head stomped on by Luigi. He went down like a rock.

The threat eliminated, Mario and Luigi returned to the two vehicles to find Peach, Daisy, and Aster in a tearful reunion. Aster was all over her older sister, finally settling in Daisy's lap and locking her arms around Daisy in a tight embrace, crying tears of joy. All Peach could do was shed her own tears with a smile as she too hugged Daisy. But Daisy was the most emotional, for in her mind she'd just been saved from a fiery death. She didn't know that to Peach and Aster, she'd been dead for six long days. And even if she had known, she wouldn't have cared. It was enough just to be safe again and to be in the company of friends, not enemies. Daisy simply wept as she squeezed her little sister close.

"Daisy!" cried the little princess in green, hugging Daisy even more tightly.

"I'm OK, Aster, I'm OK," Daisy choked out between sobs. "Oh, it's so good to see you safe, and Peach too!" Daisy looked up at Peach with teary eyes and smiled. Peach hugged both sisters at once, at a complete loss for words to describe her joy.

Mario put a hand on Daisy's shoulder, and she looked up at him. "It's good to have you back safe and sound, Daisy."

"Thanks, Mario," she replied with a sniffle.

"Uh, Daisy, I, uh..." Luigi fumbled for words. "I'm glad you're OK," he finally managed.

Princess Daisy smiled at him and he reddened.

Suddenly Peach screamed "LOOK OUT!", and Mario dove to the side as the previously-unconscious guard slashed at him. The enraged Paroidian attacked Mario in silent fury. However, Luigi managed to kick the guard from behind, knocking him onto his face. Mario promptly stomped him into oblivion.

"It's OK, Peach," Mario reassured the anxious Princess. "They're all gone now."

"That's more of the Paroidian Guard than I ever wanted to see again," Peach said nervously. She shuddered. "It just makes me think of that horrible Great One and all she did to us. Let's get out of here—_now_." Quickly she bundled herself into the limousine, followed by Mario, Aster, and Daisy. Luigi and the Professor hopped into the truck. Swiff T. revved the limo's engine and sped off toward the castle, the truck close behind him.

"Daisy, won't you stay with me for a few days?" asked Peach. "I just want to have a few long talks with you. There's so much you don't know—so much on my mind..." She trailed off.

Daisy shook her head. "I'm sorry, Peach, but I can't. Sarasaland is without a ruler unless I'm there. And I still need to teach Aster how to handle things around the castle. I have to take her home." Daisy's voice was apologetic. Aster snuggled closer to her older sister.

Peach looked crestfallen. "I understand," she sighed and dropped her head. Mario put his arm around her.

"Don't worry, Peach. I'll call you tomorrow," Daisy hastened to say, "and we can talk then. I've got to get Aster home first, though."

"I don't blame you," Peach replied. "She's been through a lot."

In minutes the group arrived back at Peach's castle. Great was the staff's surprise when Daisy walked through the front doors after having been dead six days! From the hundred-and-one questions posed her, Daisy finally figured out the six-day gap she'd passed through via Gadd's Alternator machine. She was so grateful that she actually hugged the Professor, nearly breaking him in two with her crushing squeeze.

"Ooof! Daisy!" protested the elderly man as he felt himself being asphyxiated.

"Thank you, Professor, _thank you!_" was Daisy's response, squeezing a little harder before finally letting go.

"Well, Daisy, your carriage is still here from the tennis match two weeks ago," Peach informed her friend. "If you wanted to go..."

Daisy hugged Peach again. "Yes, we're going. Come on, Aster. We're going home!"

"Home!" repeated the little seven-year-old excitedly as she raced to her sister. Daisy caught Aster's hand and followed Peach out to the royal stables. The yellow-and-orange carriage with gilded green wheels was already outside waiting for them, complete with four beautiful white stallions. The majestic creatures pawed the ground from their harness, impatient to be off.

With one last hug, Peach parted from her friend and watched her and Aster climb into the carriage. The driver flicked the reins, and the carriage rolled out of the stable yard, headed for Sarasaland. Peach waved after it, tears welling in her eyes. Mario came up beside her and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"Well, that's done," he said at last, breaking the silence that had settled over the stable yard.

Peach still gazed after the retreating vehicle, now just a tiny toy moving down a distant road. She looked over at Mario. Her face held a deep, unexpressed sorrow.

"Peach, what is it?" asked Mario, worried. "What's wrong?"

She hung her head with an exhausted sigh. "I don't know," she finally answered with a trace of uncertainty. "Ever since the Great One put me through all that psychological and physical torment, trying to get me to give up the crown, I just haven't been the same up here," she added, putting a hand to her forehead. "My mind seems to be a swirling blank, hollowly taking in its surroundings but not really comprehending anything."

"I'm sorry, Peach," Mario told her, trying to ease her mind somehow.

"It's not your fault." Peach stared at the sky, watching the cottony white clouds drift lazily through the August air. Her expression was one of puzzled worry.

"...I just have...so many questions," the Princess managed at last. "So many questions—but no answers." Her eyes roved the sky as if searching for the answers to her queries. Then she looked back at Mario and voiced the question that lay heaviest on her mind, the question she felt she _must_ know the answer to.

"Who _was_ she?"

"The Great One?" Mario counter-questioned.

Peach nodded. "Something about her seemed...I don't know, familiar to me, I guess. Like I'd met her before. But I _know_ I hadn't." The Princess seemed deep in reverie; then she looked back up at the sky and voiced her question once more.

"Who _was_ she?"

After a few minutes of watching the Princess gaze into the cloud-dotted sky, Mario quietly took her hand and escorted her back into the castle. She was subdued and quiet as they entered the building, but managed a smile at Michael, who always seemed to view her with both awe and excitement. He tagged along beside the Princess as she and Mario walked the castle halls, smiling up at her now and then, until Peach finally bent down and kissed his cheek in a motherly way. The Toad boy blushed and smiled bashfully as her, and she smiled back, her gloom and stress forgotten. Suddenly Rachel's voice filtered down the hall.

"Michael!"

"Coming!" called Michael and scurried off down the hall.

"Why does he always cheer me up when I'm like this?" Peach said with a lingering smile on her face as she watched him go.

Dinner that evening was a happy affair, as the Princess had been cured of her blues by Michael's childish charm. The time around the table with those she knew and loved was joyous to her, made doubly so by the rescuing of Princess Daisy that afternoon. Peach still felt like she would burst with happiness at having seen her friend alive and safe again. Mario, sitting on her immediate right as usual, sensed her joy and met her eyes with a knowing smile several times. Conversation was light and cheerful.

After dinner, everyone, including the Rainbow Guardians and Russ T.'s family, participated in a game of charades. Mario led out by making short, hard jumps across the great dining hall.

"Hold it, bro! That's the Goomba-stomping domino-effect thing!" Luigi yelled out.

Mario pounded his fist onto his leg in disbelief. "Man, and I was only one jump away from a 1-Up, too!"

Laughter erupted in the hall, and Luigi took his place for his turn. He crouched on the floor, storing up his energy until he flashed brightly, then suddenly sprang upward in a tremendous leap that wound up bonking his head on the twenty-foot ceiling. He landed with a dazed look on his face.

"I've never seen such a high jump!" Amber exclaimed. Luigi took this as a compliment and grinned. The others were dredging up memories, trying to remember what Luigi was acting out.

"Got it!" called out Toad. "The Super Jump!"

"Of all the people to remember, it _would_ be you, Toad," Peach laughed. "You were the one who needed it the most back then!"

Toad then took his turn by saying, "Thank you! But our princess is in another castle!"

"AUUUUUUGH!!" Mario put his hands over his ears. "Knock it off, Toad! You KNOW I hate it when you say that! Was that ALL you guys could think to say when I saved you?! Talk about ANNOYING!!!"

"Speaking is against the rules, Toad," Peach admonished him after she managed to stop laughing. "And you know it!"

Toad grinned mischievously.

It was nearly midnight by the time the impromptu party broke up. Mario, Luigi, and Professor Gadd left the castle, and the others went to their respective rooms.

The Princess took her time getting ready for bed, feeling somewhat leisurely that evening. First she went through her usual routine of removing crown and jewelry and meticulously arranging them on top of her bureau-sized jewelry cabinet. She then went to her wall-length closet, pushed back the sliding door, and removed her light, short-sleeved pink nightgown from its hanger. Removing her dress, the Princess slipped into her airy gown, folded her dress neatly, and set it near the door for the laundry crew to take care of.

Entering her adjoining private bathroom, she brushed her golden hair in front of the pink-framed mirror, then brushed her teeth with her pink toothbrush. The Princess walked back into her bedroom, crossed the room to the courtyard window, and opened the window as she always did.

Being surrounded by cool stone walls, the courtyard was usually pleasantly cool despite the August heat. Sure enough, a wave of cool air washed over the Princess as she opened the window, making her smile at its delicious feel. She seated herself on the wide stone sill and gazed up over the courtyard walls at the myriad of glittering stars overhead, intrigued by their sparkling grandeur. She was the perfect picture of pure, untarnished beauty as she sat on the sill looking up into the vast canopy of space, with her golden hair cascading down her back in wavy folds and her pretty silk gown that accentuated her loveliness without being too revealing.

At last the Princess got up from the windowsill and slipped under the blankets on her bed, the pink silk canopy fluttering a little as her movement stirred up a breeze in the room. For a brief moment she smiled; then, closing her eyes, she fell almost immediately into a fitful sleep. Her evening had been enjoyable, but she needed rest now.

* * *

"So...I _assume_ the order was received?"

The Paroidian Guard nodded silently, it not being characteristic of his kind to speak much at all.

A slight, cunning smile spread itself over the Great One's veiled face, and she waved the guard out of the throne room.

In a moment she rose from her silver throne and exited the room also, winding through a maze of stone hallways that would confuse nearly any intruder in her imposing fortress. At last she came to the door she wanted. Opening the reinforced-steel door, she stepped into what appeared to be a research laboratory. Test tube racks holding countless chemical vials were scattered about the room; several tables holding microscopes, computers, and complex machinery also dotted the area; and seated at one of the tables was a single man. He was built like a weightlifter, incredibly toned and muscular, even tanned a little—and wore a white lab coat and thick glasses, contrasting his powerful exterior with an intelligent interior. He looked up from his microscope as the Great One entered the room.

"Greetings, Master. The test is almost complete."

"Excellent, Ray," replied the Great One. "What does the diagnostic program predict from this DNA alteration?"

Ray pointed to a nearby monitor, and looking at it, the Great One smiled. "Perfect."

"The DNA must still be used to develop a starter cell," cautioned Ray.

"I know that." Swiftly she moved to the wall of the room and placed her eye in front of a sensor for a retinal scan.

_*Subject verified as the Great One. Opening cryogenic storage chamber.*_

The wall slid back to the computer's announcement, revealing a grayish room with six icy-blue capsules against one wall. The Great One stepped inside, and the wall slid shut with a swish behind her.

"Ah, my beauties," crooned the evil woman to the grotesque creatures sealed in the capsules, "soon I will awaken you and, after multiplying your numbers, release you to take control of the Mushroom Kingdom once again!"

The hideous creatures stared blankly back at her as she continued. "The time has nearly come. You are the sole survivors of your race, but soon there will be countless _millions_ of you!" She laughed softly to herself, gazing at her prized possessions, suspended in time in their cryogenic capsules. Six ugly purple mushrooms with claws that glinted like steel on their pincer-like hands and terrifying fangs protruding from their half-open mouths.

Shroobs.

* * *

Peach groaned at the intrusive buzz of the alarm clock that had invaded her slumber. "Six o'clock already?" she yawned as she reached for the alarm and shut it off. The quietness that settled over the room without the noise of the clock was overpowering, and the Princess was almost immediately lulled back to sleep. Sunday morning would have to wait for her...

"...ake up! Your Highness, wake up!"

Peach's eyes flew open. "Wh-Whuh? Did I fall asleep again?" she asked tiredly.

Rachel's smiling face bent over the Princess's sleepy one. "It's almost eight o'clock, Your Sleepiness," she reproached lightly.

"Eight o'clock?!" Peach would have gotten up, but her limbs felt like lead and protested against moving.

"Yes, and of all the days to sleep in, you _would_ pick this one," continued Peach's personal servant with a shake of her head, making her golden braids swing back and forth.

"What do you mean, Rachel?" queried Peach, thoroughly puzzled.

Rachel slapped her forehead. "Sometimes you amaze me, Your Highness. I never thought a princess could forget her own—"

"Birthday!" Peach shot up from under the blankets. "It's August thirteenth!"

"About time you remembered," admonished Rachel with a smile. "Now you'd better hurry up and get ready. The day's not getting any longer, you know."

"Yes, Toadsworth," Peach returned in feigned exasperation. The two laughed, and Rachel left the room so Peach could get dressed for the day.

_Toadsworth..._ The thought triggered a pang of sorrow as Peach recalled seeing her trusty steward's lifeless corpse lying on the throne room floor at the feet of the Shadows Royal. She shook her head. "No... I can't get lost in memories today. My birthday party's this afternoon, and I mustn't spoil it with moroseness." Peach pushed the painful past from her thoughts and forced herself to focus on the day ahead. Soon she was all smiles again, humming to herself as she put on her pink dress (of which she had several dozen), brushed her hair, washed her face, and otherwise made herself presentable as royalty.

Emerging from her chambers, the Princess briskly made her way to the dining hall to partake of an unusually late breakfast. She received a good deal of good-natured ribbing about sleeping in on her birthday. It appeared that the day would progress as any other—no mishaps, no tricks, and certainly no attempts on her life. After all, who would try to kill the Princess on her birthday?

* * *

Silently the Great One surveyed the castle from her aerial vantage point. Her private helicopter hovered not two miles from the Princess's castle, just far enough away so that it would be difficult to spot but just close enough for the Great One to brood over her target. She smiled behind her translucent veil.

"Perfect," she said to herself, the roar of the gyrating rotor blades drowning out the rest of her words. Turning, she nodded to her black-suited pilot, and he immediately started the chopper moving, setting a course for the Great One's fortress.

The Great One smiled again. _Soon...soon she'll be mine...and this time she won't escape. I'll get my kingdom back from her yet!_


	5. The Rifting

"Your Highness! Princess Daisy! And Aster too!"

"Shyga!" Daisy bent down and enveloped her personal servant in her arms. "It's so good to be home!"

"And you don't know how much we've missed you both," the blue-suited female Shy Guy responded with a wide smile.

Daisy straightened up and looked around the empty castle foyer. "Where is everyone? It's so quiet!"

Shyga looked mysterious. "They're around."

"Where?" asked Aster, looking around the ornamented foyer.

Suddenly a multitude of Shy Guys flooded into the room and surrounded a happily-surprised Daisy and Aster, shouting, "Welcome home, Your Highness!"

Daisy looked around her with a surprised smile. She almost broke down and cried right there, but caught herself before she did. She put her arm around Aster. "Thank you, everyone! It's great to be back at home again, and to see you all still here waiting for me! That...that really means a lot to me."

Turning to the expectant Shyga, she said, "I'm taking Aster to our room. Please have everyone return to their tasks. I don't mean to be bossy, but you know how things are around here."

Shyga nodded. "They'll trail you for hours unless you order them not to!"

"At least I know I'm popular around here," Daisy added with a laugh. "But I'm no goddess and don't need to be adored like one." With that, Daisy picked up her seven-year-old sister and carted her off like so much baggage to the room they shared. Aster giggled and squirmed in her sibling's grip. Shyga watched them go.

"She's still a tomboy," she said aloud to herself. "Hasn't changed a bit. Looks like I'm still going to have to work on her to get her to behave like a lady!"

After settling back into her familiar orange-and-yellow room, Daisy plunked herself down on her flowered comforter, picked up the phone from its blossom-shaped cradle on her nightstand, and dialed 137-3224, the number for Peach's castle. There was a familiar _click_ as the connection was made.

"Hello?" came Peach's familiar voice over the line.

"Hi, Peach, it's Daisy."

"Daisy! Oh, I've been waiting for your call! How is everything over there?"

"Fine, Peach, just fine. I feel like I've been gone for years. Aster's happy as can be. I believe she's out in the garden playing with Shyga right now." Daisy smiled. "So why did you want me to call you?"

Peach was silent for a moment, leaving Daisy with only whispering static in her ear.

"Daisy," she finally sighed, "I have so much on my mind that I simply _have_ to tell it to someone. Please, could you just listen to me for a while? I need to just...let all this loose somewhere..." Peach faded out at the end of her sentence.

"Sure I can," Daisy replied quietly. "What's up?"

"Daisy, it's my mother. I can't get her out of my mind. You never did meet her, did you?"

"No."

"Oh, she was beautiful, Daisy. I looked up to her like a little girl, even when I was a teenager. I still wish I were more like her—sweet, king, generous, loving... She was...she was the best person in the world—my best friend, my confidante.

"Then, after the Great One...executed you, Daisy, I saw her. She was standing at the Great One's side, promising to kill Luigi and Hardshell as they tried to rescue me. Her black eyes were cold and hard. She moved like a ghost, slipping around the room like a shadowy vapor as she fought them to the death. She...she was..." Peach choked. "She was evil, Daisy."

Daisy was silent, listening intently.

"I—I couldn't believe it. Diamond...my own dear mother...she turned against me... Her heart became black—" Peach broke down and sobbed. "Mom...!!"

"Peach, I...I don't know what to say." Daisy's voice was subdued and quiet. "You don't seem yourself."

"I'm not." Peach's admittal was frank but sad. "I haven't been myself since I saw Mom there in the fortress. And I'm afraid I'll never get back to being myself again!" The Princess almost started crying again. "She's dead now, Daisy. Hardshell killed her to protect Luigi. I-I'm heartbroken!"

"Peach, there's no turning back now." Daisy knew there was small comfort in those words, but they had to be said. If your mother was evil, there was no alternative but to stop her. You said yourself she tried to kill Luigi and Hardshell—"

"I know!" Peach started to cry. "That's the thing I can't get over! Was...was my mother really the way she seemed? Or was she being controlled, manipulated somehow? I still can't believe that—" Peach broke off and gasped. "Rachel! Whatever is the matter with you?"

Listening closely, Daisy was able to make out the frantic voice of Rachel informing Peach of something, but Daisy couldn't quite catch the exact words.

"Oh!" Peach exclaimed fearfully. "Tell me you're not serious, Rachel!"

Rachel affirmed her previous statement.

"Peach, what's going on over there? Is something wrong?"

"Daisy, my castle's under attack by the Great One's Paroidian Guards! The royal guards have been driven back, and it's only a matter of time before—"

"Peach, get out of there NOW!" Daisy shouted into the phone.

"We'll take my plane. I hope we can make it out before we're all captured!" Peach sounded desperate. "I'm leaving the phone off the hook so you can hear what's going on. I want to know what happens to this place!"

"Peach, fly here. Stay with me!" Daisy urged.

"I-I will, Daisy. We're on our way!" There were sounds of running footsteps, and all was quiet on Daisy's end of the phone.

After an interminable wait, Daisy heard heavy footfalls entering Peach's chamber, and sounds of shattering glass filled her ears. Then a _clunk clunk_ as someone picked up the receiver. Heavy breathing echoed through Daisy's phone.

"Who are you?" demanded Daisy. "And why are you in Peach's castle?"

"We have our orders," was the deep bass response. "And you, girl, will be keeping your mouth shut about this matter. We Paroidians have the castle, and no one else shall hear of our conquest!"

Suddenly a high-pitched shriek burst from Daisy's receiver and pierced her ears. Daisy's eyes widened. Her hand trembled, and the phone clattered to the floor. Then her face went white, and she slid off the bed and collapsed onto the floor.

"Your Highness, I have a very sweaty little princess here to see you—" Shyga broke off as she led Aster into the royal chamber. A startled expression flitted over the Shy Guy girl's face, and she dropped Aster's hand and rushed into the room.

"Your Highness! Princess Daisy, what's wrong? What happened to you?"

Aster gasped when she saw her older sister lying face-down on the royal blue carpet. "Daisy! Oh no, Daisy!" Her hands flew to her rosy cheeks.

Shyga knelt and rolled Daisy over, and Her Highness's arms sagged limply to the sides. Daisy's face was ashen white, and her eyes held a blank stare. Suddenly she started, trembled a little, and tried to speak.

"I-I-I-I...I...th...the...ph-phone...P-Peach..." Her face now held an alarmed fright.

Shyga spotted the phone lying on the floor and grabbed it. "Shh, Princess, keep calm. I'll get the doctor." She canceled the current call and dialed the castle medical officer, Medic Guy. Within minutes Daisy was in a hospital bed with legions of machinery monitoring her vital signs.

Medic Guy took one look at the monitor readings of Daisy's heartbeat and shook his head. "This is not good. Her heart rate is incredibly erratic. It races, then slows to a crawl, then picks up speed again. What on earth happened to her?"

"I don't know," replied Shyga anxiously. "She can't speak coherently at all."

The white-coated Shy Guy with the Red Cross headband frowned. "Something has to be done about that heart rate. Whatever happened to her made her systems go haywire. We'll run some diagnostic tests and see what we come up with."

Daisy shivered on her bed. She was seeing things that no one else could see, and what she was seeing was scaring her to death. Her eyes were wide as she stared into empty space, watching the vision play over and over before her eyes...

* * *

"Whew..." Russ had his face plastered to the window of Peach's private plane. "That was _too_ close." He looked back at the squadron of Paroidian Guards standing on the runway, shaking their fists at the departing plane.

Peach sagged back in her plush velvet seat, eyed closed in tiredness; she wiped her forehead and let out a sigh as she said, "At least we're safe." She pushed the special cabin-to-cockpit intercom button on her chair arm. "Fly T., set a course for Sarasaland National Airport."

"Are you sure it's safe to go that far with the amount of fuel we carry?" asked Tess T., one of the two head cooks, with a critical look.

Peach looked tiredly at her questioner. "Since when were you an airplane expert, Tess?"

Tess kept her mouth shut and did not reply. She turned in her seat, looked at the Toad guard named Bill directly behind her, and ever so slightly nodded her head. Silently Bill rose from his seat and walked back into the tail cargo area. Nurse Lily looked secretively at Tess from her seat next to Dr. Herb T. and saw Tess wink at her. Lily winked back, then resumed looking out her window.

About ten minutes later, Bill emerged from the cargo compartment and handed Tess T. a brown paper-wrapped package. She looked up at him, smiled knowingly, and nodded. Bill acknowledged the gesture with a slight nod of his own and returned to his seat. Tess undid the wrapping slightly.

"We're out of range of the Mushroom Kingdom National Airport's radio signal," reported Fly T. a few minutes later. "Switching to Sarasaland radio comms channel in ten minutes, when we come within range."

"Just what I needed to hear," interjected Tess T. coldly as she rose from her seat, throwing the brown paper wrapping aside. In her hands was a deadly-looking submachine gun. She aimed the gun directly at Princess Peach.

Peach stared down the barrel of the weapon. "Tess, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Think about it; you might guess," Bill replied for Tess T. as he also rose from his seat, gripping two loaded pistols. He too aimed at the Princess. "Lily, cover Hardshell."

Nurse Lily stood and trained her rifle on Hardshell's head. "Don't move, Hardshell, or you and the Princess are both dead."

"What is this you are doing?" Athos demanded.

Tess and the others ignored him. "Bill, let Fly T. know about the change in course and give the autopilot that little adjustment as planned." Bill nodded and moved forward through the cabin door into the cockpit.

The traitorous cook glanced around. "No one try anything, or the Princess ends up with a bullet in her shoulder. From there I'll move to more sensitive areas." Her finger tightened around the trigger of her submachine gun.

"P-Princess!" Fly T. spluttered over the intercom. "We—We've been—AAAAAAH!" A groan issued from the speaker, then nothing.

"What did you do to him?!" Peach cried.

There was silence for a minute or two; then Bill emerged from the cockpit. "Just shut him up, that's all. Tess, the autopilot has been reprogrammed."

"You—!!" Peach buried her face in her hands. "You killed him!!"

Citrine stood, glowering at Tess T. "Put the gun down _now_, or—" A crackle of electricity in her right hand completed the sentence threateningly well.

"Sit _down_, Citrine," replied Tess coldly, "because if you do zap me—" She lifted the flap of her unzipped purple jacket to reveal packs of dynamite strapped around her body. "There's more than enough charge here to blow this plane and everyone in it to bits. So either sit down and save your life, or zap me and kill us all. Your choice." Tess kept her gun trained on Peach.

Citrine slowly resumed her seat, face black with rage.

"What do you think you're _doing_, Tess?!" Peach repeated desperately.

Tess T. regarded her coolly. "This, Princess Peach, is called a hijacking. We're taking over the plane."

* * *

"Of all the things to forget!" Mario berated himself as he dashed into Toad Town. "I am such a blockhead! For me not to remember Peach's birthday present is unthinkable! Especially this time," he added under his breath. Rushing into Toad Town Jewelers, he asked the clerk at the desk if his order was ready.

"Certainly, sir," replied the bespectacled Toad as he sat behind the counter. "I'll have it for you in just a moment." He rummaged through his filing cabinet and pulled out a receipt. Handing the paper to Mario, the clerk reached under the counter and pulled out a small red velvet box.

"That will be 100,000 Coins, please," the clerk droned.

Mario pulled a check from his pocket and gave it to the clerk. The clerk barely glanced at it before putting it into the cash register. Seizing his purchase, Mario raced out of the shop. He checked his watch.

"Only ten minutes 'til the party starts! It's 2:20 already!" Mario took off running for the Princess's castle.

Passing through Toad Town's gate, he ran until he reached the outskirts of the castle grounds—then stopped. His grip on Peach's present tightened a little, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw hundreds of silver-armored, red-tunicked Paroidian Guards slowly patrolling the castle property.

"What the—How in the _world_ did _they_ get here?! They should've all been killed when we destroyed the Great One's fortress!" Mario backed away from the castle and concealed himself in the trees at the edge of the property. "This is unbelievable!"

Luigi came puffing up behind him. "Am...am I too late for the party?" he wheezed, out of breath.

"No, Luigi," Mario said quietly. "There's not going to be a party today."

"What are you talking about—" Luigi broke off as he followed Mario's pointing finger and saw the hundreds of enemy guards patrolling the area. "Huh?! Those are the Great One's guards! What are _they_ doing here?!"

"I don't know, but the situation doesn't look pretty." Mario looked worried. "Peach..."

"Mario!"

Mario turned to see a Toad running up to him. "Yes?"

"I followed you all the way from town but couldn't catch up," panted the Toad. "The Princess is OK. She and her staff escaped in her plane." He puffed out a few short gasps. "She...she wants you to follow her to Sarasaland. That's where she's headed."

"How do you know?" asked Mario, surprised.

"I...I work at the airport...and I heard the radio message from the royal plane," he managed between breaths.

"C'mon, Luigi! Let's get after that plane!" Mario and Luigi took off toward Toadwood Forest in the direction the plane would have taken to reach Sarasaland. The Toad watched them go—and a sneaky smile suddenly plastered itself over his face. There was a puff of purple smoke, and the Toad transformed into a creature dressed in a white sheet and a blue party hat. His eyes gleamed red.

"Heh, I'm slick, Slick—too slick for you! There _was_ no radio message!" Doopliss grinned mischievously. "We've got you right where we want you now, 'Super' Mario! With you away from the castle, the Great One can finally smash this stupid kingdom into smithereens. Say bye-bye to the Mushroom Kingdom, Slick!"

* * *

"Where are you taking us?" demanded Russ T.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Tess replied steadily. "Bill, please stay in the cockpit. This thing can't land itself, you know."

"Yes, _ma'am_," Bill responded in mock salute and reentered the cockpit of Peach's plane.

"We should reach our destination any minute now," Tess said aloud, settling back into her seat next to her scared twin sister Tace T., the other head cook.

"Tess, why are you doing this?" whispered Tace, frightened. "You're betraying the Princess!"

Tess wedged the barrel of her submachine gun into her sister's abdomen, making Tace wince. "Quiet, Tace. I'm doing what must be done. If you knew what I know, you'd do the same." Tess's eyes narrowed. "Don't think I'll hesitate to shoot you just because you're my sister. You get in the way—you die."

Tace gasped as the barrel shoved itself farther into her gut before withdrawing.

"You might be interested, Princess, in knowing just who was behind all those attacks on the Rainbow Guardians," Tess remarked off-handedly. She looked over at the frightened Peach. "As you might guess, I was the coordinator. That bungler Harry handled Ruby, Lily shot Amber in the infirmary, and I was the one who slipped the poison into Citrine's breakfast. Bill was our go-between with our leader."

"What leader?" Peach asked, trembling.

"You'll see."

The plane began to slowly glide downward. Peach looked out the window at the ground, and her stomach knotted up with dread. She paled.

Far below was the Great One's fortress.

The plane circled in a gentle arc, slowly spiraling downward toward the runway behind the fortress. Within five minutes it was taxiing to a stop on the concrete.

"We've arrived," announced Bill over the intercom. "Opening the hatch." There was a hissing as the airlock was unsealed and the exit hatch popped open. Peach sat petrified in her velvet seat, staring at nothing.

"No... Please, no... This can't be happening to me!" she cried. "This is just a dream!"

Tess T. seized Peach's hand with an incredible strength and hauled her out into the aisle. A dozen Paroidian Guards boarded the plane, surrounded the terror-stricken Princess, and marched her out onto the airstrip. Other Paroidians removed the remaining passengers, including the seven Rainbow Guardians, Athos, Hardshell, Russ T. and family, Toad, Toadette, and even Professor Gadd. The captives were forced to enter the imposing stone fortress looming near the airstrip.

* * *

The throne room was themed in black and silver. Walls, ceiling, and floor were all dyed pitch black, and the silver banners emblazoned with the crescent moon hanging from the walls did not serve to lift the evil atmosphere created by the color scheme. The only strip of color was the red carpet running from silver double doors to silver throne. It gave the appearance of a river of blood flowing through the room. On this carpet stood Princess Peach, surrounded by a dozen armed Paroidians. The other captives were hemmed in by another, larger contingent of guards in the rear of the throne room.

"Well, well, Peach, so good to see you again," greeted the Great One pleasantly. A mysterious smile played behind her veil. "You're my guest once again. I assure you that your visit_ this_ time will be infinitely more enjoyable than your last."

Peach could only stare in terror at her enemy, the enemy she'd been so sure was dead and gone.

The Great One fingered her iron staff, studying its crystalline crescent top. "It seems you find it difficult to believe I'm still alive." She rose from her imposing silver throne.

"You _can't_ be alive!" Peach blurted out. "No normal human could have survived a grenade going off in his face, let alone a building collapsing on his head! It's impossible!"

"And yet here I stand, Peach," replied the black-haired, black-eyed woman. Her veil stirred slightly as she slowly advanced toward Peach. "How can you refute reality?"

Peach had no answer. Somehow...somehow this evil woman had cheated death. It was a haunting reality, but reality nonetheless.

"Well, since today is your birthday, Peach, I've got a present for you," the Great One informed her helpless captive.

Stunned, Peach stared at the Great One. "How...?"

"How did _she _know it was Peach's birthday?" whispered Russ T. to Rachel. One of the Paroidian Guards silently smacked him in the mouth. Russ got the point and quickly shut up.

"I know more about you than you could ever dream of, Peach," the Great One said suavely. "Your birthday, your favorite food, your usual morning and evening routines—I know it all. And for good reason." She smiled. "Back to your present, Peach. I'm going to give you the thing you've wanted ever since you saw me first. I'll take off my veil for you."

"...You're serious?" Peach wasn't too sure about the offer.

"Why not?" the Great One counter-questioned. She touched the veil lightly. "This veil has served its purpose. There's no reason why you shouldn't see now what's behind it." She smiled again—smiled her crafty, cunning smile.

"Show me," Peach said with trembling voice. "Show me who you really are."

One of the Great One's black eyebrows wet up. "You're sure you want to see my true self?" She laughed softly. "Very well, then." With that, she reached up with her left hand, took hold of her veil, and smoothly swept it off her head, revealing her full face to Peach. The Princess was totally unprepared for what she saw.

Peach hit the floor in a near-faint. With wide, frightened eyes and a bewildered look she stared at the face of her enemy. She trembled violently, and her breathing quaked and shivered. She squeezed her eyes shut, then looked again, but nothing had changed. The face before her was stark reality.

"N-No... N-NO! It can't be you! You...!! _Cyanara?!_"

The Great One smiled again. "That's _Empress_ Cyanara to you..._little sister._"

Peach let her head fall back to the black marble floor. Her eyes were glazed, and sweat dotted her pale face. Still her breathing was erratic. Her eyes were half-closed as if in delirium. The other captives watched her in shock, also stunned by the announcement made by the Great One—Empress Cyanara.

"Nooooo...no no no no NO!! This is _not_ happening to me! I'm dreaming!" cried Peach.

"You're very much awake, Peach. This is no dream." Cyanara's smile vanished. "I'm no ghost come to haunt you. I'm very real."

"I'm imagining things! You're dead, Cyanara!" Peach was almost crying. "You're dead! You _can't_ be real!"

"Well, I certainly fooled _you,_ didn't I?" asked Cyanara haughtily.

"B-But you should have been killed when that grenade went off in your face!"

Cyanara smiled mysteriously. "I know more magic than you ever will, Peach. My pact with the darkness, the Seal of Fatalis, makes me as immortal as a god! Oh, I still feel pain. Yes, you may wound me severely, even fatally, and shed much blood. But no earthly weapon can kill me as long as the Seal remains in place!"

Peach shakily got to her feet and backed away from Cyanara. "I-I'm still not convinced."

"I thought as much." Cyanara nodded thoughtfully. "This should be proof enough." She reached up to her neck, took hold of a thin gold chain, and slowly pulled it out from beneath her dress. A rainbow charm dangled from the chain, one half of a complete circular rainbow. It glowed ever so faintly.

Peach gasped at the sight. Almost involuntarily her hands went to her dress collar, and tremblingly she withdrew an identical necklace with an identical charm from beneath her own dress. "So Mom gave the other half of the Pendant to you," she whispered. "You...you really are my sister..." Her eyes welled with tears. "Cyanara, you don't know how much it would mean to me to have you back."

"Back?" spat Cyanara in disgust. "Back as what? Just one of the royal relations, I suppose. No authority."

"No, Cyanara, please! I only want to—"

"It's too late for that!" shouted Cyanara. "The only way you can make things right is by handing over that crown of yours this instant!"

"NO!" Peach's eyes flashed. "I don't have anything to make up to you, Cyanara! Father banished you because of your evil! I had nothing to do with it, other than crying because you were gone! Why hate me for _that?!_"

Cyanara seethed with rage. "Listen, Peach," she spat through her teeth, "you and I both know that _I_ was in line for the throne, not you! I was the firstborn! The crown belongs to _me!_" Her black eyes burned with anger. "I don't hate you because I was banished, Peach. I hate you for the crown you wear—a crown that is rightfully _mine!_ I am the _true_ ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom!!"

Without warning Cyanara reached out and wrenched Peach's necklace, snapping it in two. Peach's rainbow charm pinged to the floor, and Cyanara snatched it up with a wicked smile.

"No, DON'T! CYANARA!!" Peach screamed. "You KNOW what will happen if you—" Peach broke off and gasped as Cyanara brought the two rainbow halves together. There was a rushing sound and a flash of light, and the two halves fused together to make a complete circle that dangled from Cyanara's necklace.

"Caught off guard, hm, Peach?" Cyanara laughed. "The Rainbow Pendant is complete at last. With its power I'll wipe 'your' little kingdom from the face of the earth!" Cyanara removed the necklace and held the Pendant high. "Power of the rainbow! Rift through time and space and DESTROY this kingdom!"

"NOOOOO!!" screamed the Princess.

The Rainbow Pendant began to glow with blazing color. The seven Guardians stared at it in horror. Ruby's eyes widened.

"Sisters, this is the end!"

Suddenly the Pendant gave off a flash of red light. Ruby choked; she tried to breathe but could not, and she pitched to the floor, unconscious.

"One Guardian down, six to go," announced Cyanara cruelly. "Again!"

This time the Pendant flashed orange, and Amber was knocked out. Then the colors of the rainbow flashed in rapid succession—yellow felled Citrine, a burst of green knocked Emerald out, blue light sent Aquamarine into unconsciousness, and indigo and violet carried the effect to Sapphire and Amethyst.

As the powerful Pendant glowed brilliantly in her upraised hand, Cyanara said with relish, "One last flash, and the Mushroom Kingdom will be no more!" The central hole in the rainbow circle filled with a shadowy vapor, and a flash of _darkness_ plunged the room into twilight for a fraction of a second. Then a tremendous rumbling shook Cyanara's fortress like a baby rattle as something happened across the entire Mushroom Kingdom.

If you could have looked down on the kingdom just after the Rainbow Pendant flashed black, you would have seen the entire kingdom separated into eight parts, each individual "piece" encased by an energy field, and each energy field one of the colors of the rainbow. The rumbling subsided.

* * *

"C'mon, Luigi! We can't stop now!" Mario called back to his younger sibling.

"Huff...huff..." Luigi puffed up to Mario. "I'm still not in shape for this kind of thing."

"Let's go! Can't keep Peach waiting!" Mario cried, taking off through the trees of Toadwood Forest again.

Suddenly a crash of thunder brought both brothers to a screeching halt. Another roar of thunder, and instantly a pouring rain rushed onto their heads, soaking them thoroughly and chilling them through. Then the earth began to reel crazily beneath their feet; they were barely able to keep their balance. "What on earth is going on?!" Luigi yelled over the rushing and rumbling of earth and weather.

Luigi had barely got the words out of his mouth before the sky flashed brilliant red for a split second. Two giant lightning bolts seared down from the sky and struck them dead-on. They collapsed instantly, too stunned to even scream. The last thing Mario saw before blacking out entirely was the black clouds hanging low in the sky, unleashing their torrents on the earth. A sigh escaped his lips, and he lay still.


	6. Cyanara's Plan

Peach stared in horror at the seven unconscious Guardians. She rushed to Ruby and felt for a pulse, but there was none. She looked up at Cyanara. "You've killed them!"

"So it might seem," agreed the Empress, still smiling at her victory, "but such is not the case. They only sleep. The Pendant has drained much of their power from them."

Athos attempted to get to Amethyst, but one of the guards struck him down with a fist.

Cyanara glared at Athos, then cast her eyes on the unconscious Amethyst—or rather the spot where Amethyst should have been. The Empress's eyes widened.

Amethyst was gone.

"Where is she?" Cyanara demanded, eyes roving over the group of prisoners.

Athos's face betrayed horror. "Amethyst –" He too scanned the room, desperately searching for his fiancée. She was nowhere to be seen. Instead of seven unconscious Guardians lying scattered across the floor, there were only six. Amethyst was missing.

"I said WHERE IS SHE!?" shouted the Empress, black eyes flashing.

"I-I don't know!" Peach stammered, trembling at her sister's rage. "She just disappeared!"

Cyanara seethed. "One of you must know. Tell me NOW!!"

"We do not know!" Athos shouted back. "I only wish I did!!"

At this, the Empress seemed to lose some of her anger. "Very well, traitor Athos," she replied coldly. "I'll take your word for it. But if you're lying—when I find her, she'll suffer because of you. Is that clear?"

Athos said nothing.

* * *

Mario groaned and stirred. The rain poured onto his exposed face, running down his neck and into his collar. Weakly he turned his face away from the heavy downpour as he lay on the soggy forest floor, soaked and chilled.

"Agh—ouch!" he exclaimed as he attempted to get up. Every muscle in his body felt like a burning knot inside him, causing intense pain when he tried to move. He had no choice but to remain still, exposed to the fury of the elements. Lightning flashed through the trees, and the wind howled like a wolf, almost drowning out the roar of a million raindrops drenching the earth.

Eventually Mario's muscles relaxed and he could move again. Slowly he got to his feet and saw Luigi not ten feet away, also struggling to his feet. He stumbled over to his sibling.

"We gotta get out of this rain," Mario yelled over the storm. Luigi nodded weakly. Together the brothers limped through the forest back toward Toad Town, intending to find shelter.

Without warning Mario ran smack into something he couldn't see and fell backward. Luigi helped him up, and they started forward again. This time, both were knocked over. Getting to his feet in the pouring rain, Mario reached out a hand into the apparently empty space in front of him—and rested it against a solid wall, completely invisible to their eyes. Mario and Luigi looked at each other.

"Looks like we're not going back, bro," Mario said hopelessly. "For some reason we're stuck out here—trapped."

As Mario finished speaking, both he and Luigi heard something nearby. They cocked their ears. There it was again. It sounded like a moan. Quickly the brothers began straining their eyes into the gloom of the fierce storm, looking for the source of the sound. After a few minutes of scanning their rain-drenched surroundings, Luigi motioned to Mario, and the two cautiously approached a nearby cluster of trees.

"I think it came from in there," Luigi half-whispered, pointing into the clump of foliage. Slowly the brothers pushed their way into the dense brush. Here the rain did not fall as hard, thanks to the shelter of the trees' thick leafy canopies overhead. The two were tense, alert for any noise or movement.

Then Mario saw her. She lay among the trees as if she'd been thrown there, her purple hair wet and matted from the downpour. Her eyes were closed, but she moved slightly every few seconds and moaned infrequently. From her heaving chest, Mario could tell she was frightened, even though the rain's rhythmic beat drowned out the sound of her breathing. But one feature made Mario recognize her instantly. It was her robe—a rainbow-colored robe. He started.

"That's Amethyst!"

Mario rushed to the young woman and shook her. "Amethyst! What are you doing out here like this?!"

Suddenly the seventh Guardian sat bolt upright and wrenched herself away from Mario, a deep fear in her eyes. "D-Don't hurt me!"

"It's just me, Mario," the plumber assured her, wondering at her behavior. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, thank goodness it's you!" Amethyst's eyes welled with tears.

"You're supposed to be on Peach's plane, heading for Sarasaland! Why are you all the way out here?" Luigi asked.

Amethyst shivered in the bone-chilling downpour. She was completely soaked. "T-The plane didn't make it."

Mario's stomach dropped into his shoes. "Don't tell me it crashed! Please, no!"

"N-No, no crash." Amethyst shuddered. "Worse."

"Worse?!" A clap of thunder almost obliterated Mario's exclamation. "What could possibly be worse?!"

"The plane was hijacked."

Mario was stunned. "By who? Where was it taken?"

"Some of the castle staff betrayed us all. They flew us to the Great One's fortress. She's...she's still alive."

"Impossible!" Mario exploded.

"I saw her with my own eyes, Mario. She's alive, and worse yet, we know her real identity. Her name is Cyanara—and she's Peach's older sister!"

"No way!" Mario shook his head. "It's a known fact that Peach's older sister was exiled when she was eighteen. She's back?!"

"And that's not even the worst part! She used the power of the Rainbow Pendant to drain the power from us Guardians!" Amethyst shuddered again. "Then..."

"Then what?" Luigi asked breathlessly.

"She split the Mushroom Kingdom into eight separate dimensions, one for every rainbow color." Amethyst did not feel the need to explain the concept of an eight-colored rainbow to the brothers. She knew they understood. "The kingdom's been rifted, Mario. Split in pieces! The Mushroom Kingdom, as a whole, no longer exists!"

"So that's why we ran into that invisible barrier," Mario guessed. "That's the edge of this particular dimension. Is there any way we can possibly undo the damage?"

Amethyst shook her head in the rain. "I'm sorry, Mario. I don't know. But I don't...think you can..."

* * *

"What have you _done?!_" Peach cried as Cyanara returned the Pendant necklace to its place about her neck.

The Empress's eyes smoldered as they stared at Peach. "You know the old adage, Peach. Divide and conquer. I've just cut 'your' little kingdom into eight pieces. Eight pieces of succulent pie—and I'm _very _hungry for them." She smiled wickedly. "Guards. Take Peach to the holding room. Put the Guardians into the special solitary confinement cells. And confiscate the Rainbow Discs. The others—disarm them and throw them in the dungeon." The Paroidians immediately obeyed, removing the Discs from the Guardians' robes and giving them to Cyanara. Then they herded the captives out of the throne room. Six burly guards carried the limp Guardians out.

Cyanara stood on the blood-red carpet, holding six of the eight Rainbow Discs. She gloated over them with an evil glint in her eyes. She turned her gaze to the Pendant about her neck, then to the eight Rainbow Rings on her fingers.

"Fifteen of the fabled objects are mine," she breathed craftily. "Only two Discs remain to be found; then I will possess _all_ the power of the rainbow. Then—_then_ who will be able to stand against me?"

She threw her head back and laughed.

"No one!"

Empress Cyanara strode to the window of her throne room, still laughing, and gazed out over the town below her fortress, mentally roving over her personal domain in evil delight. "I think I'll have a talk with little sister. It's about time she found out exactly what's going on. After all, my guests have a right to know what I'm doing." She laughed again. "Guard!"

A single Paroidian entered the room and saluted.

"Tell Peach I'd like to have her join me for dinner tonight—just the two of us." Her eyes sparkled in glee. The guard bowed, turned on his heel, and left.

* * *

"Princess."

Hesitantly Peach answered, her voice quavering. "C-Come in."

The door to the small but comfortable holding room swung open, and in walked a single Paroidian guard. Peach cringed. Her breathing quickened, and she backed against the miniature refrigerator.

"I have not come to harm you," spoke the guard in a cold, metallic voice. "The Great One would like you to dine with her tonight."

Peach looked startled. "Me? She wants me to—to eat with her? _Alone?_" Her tone was one of uncertainty.

The guard nodded solemnly, waiting for a definite response.

_What is she planning_? wondered Peach. _What could she want to see me alone for? Is this a trap? Is she going to— _Peach stopped and heaved a great sigh before answering.

"Tell her...I'll come."

* * *

"That still doesn't answer my first question," Mario shouted over the noise of rushing wind and pouring rain. "How did you get way out here when you were in the Great One's—I mean Cyanara's—fortress?"

"...I don't know..." Amethyst was clearly puzzled. "How far _are_ we from the fortress?"

"About four miles, maybe more," Luigi guessed.

"The dimensional rifting must have affected me somehow," Amethyst concluded. "But why only me? Why not the others as well? Oh, Athos, what's happening to you?" Her tears mingled with the rain streaming down her face.

"We're doing no good just standing out here," Mario said at last. "Let's find some shelter from this weather!" He helped the young lady to her feet, and the three companions started off through the stormy, rain-drenched forest to seek shelter from the incessant downpour.

* * *

Princess Peach walked slowly into the dining hall, the place she'd been told dinner would be served. Her Paroidian escort remained outside to ensure that she would not attempt to escape.

Before the Princess was outspread a luxuriant feast on the long silver dining table. Two silver chairs faced each other from the long sides of the table, and Peach hesitantly started toward one of them.

"Oh, where are my manners?" asked a cheerful voice from the opposite side of the room. Peach looked up quickly to see Cyanara herself entering the room through the far door. The Empress laughed lightly at Peach's startled expression. "Please, sit down." Following her own directive, Cyanara seated herself at the table and beckoned Peach to do the same. Hesitantly the Princess sat down directly across the table from her older sister, watching her sibling closely.

"Shall we begin?" asked the Empress, beginning to heap her plate with food.

Peach looked from side to side, scanning the length of the table. Roast duck, quail, pheasant, more pasta dishes than she could count, peaches, grapes, oranges, and a tremendous devil's food cake were just the beginning of the massive selection. Her head snapped up, and she locked eyes with her older sister.

"How do I know it's not poisoned?"

Cyanara set her plate in front of herself and gave her younger sibling a disapproving look. "Not taking any chances with me, are you, Peach?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she spoke.

"I've learned that it's not exactly safe to do so," Peach replied evenly, folding her hands and settling them in her lap. "Thank you, but no thank you."

The Empress laughed. "Discerning as always, little sister." She leaned forward slightly. "Are you sure you're not going to eat?"

Peach shook her head.

"Very well, then," Cyanara said comfortably as she settled back in her chair, leaving her own steaming plate untouched. "I had hoped we could have our discussion _over_ dinner, but I suppose having it _before_ dinner won't hurt." She smiled.

There was a heavy silence for what seemed an eternity.

"What do you want from me?" Peach finally asked, voice quiet.

"Quick to cut through veneer and get down to business, aren't you?" Cyanara asked nonchalantly. "You might guess what I want. As if I hadn't told you before."

"My crown."

"Precisely." Cyanara's eyes glittered.

"You don't mean that," Peach corrected. "If you were really after _just_ the crown, you'd have killed me last time, when you had the chance. But you didn't." She eyed her hostile sibling. "What are you _really _after?"

"Seeing through it all, aren't you?" asked Cyanara with a little chuckle. "I _am_ after the crown—a crown that is rightfully mine—ah-ah, Peach, hear me out," she broke in as Peach attempted to interrupt. "You'll get your chance to speak, I promise. But let me finish. It's written in the law of the Mushroom Kingdom that I am never to sit on the throne as ruler. Correct?"

Peach nodded, wondering where the conversation was headed.

"And there is no way for me to overturn that edict, correct?"

"That's right."

"Then, according to law, who is the only one who can repeal that pronouncement and restore me to my rightful place?"

Peach started. "You wouldn't dare..."

"It's you, Peach," Cyanara said suavely. "Like it or not, I must acknowledge your current position as ruler. You are the only one who can give me my throne back. You, however, are now in my power. Go ahead—take another guess as to what I'm really after."

"I'll never do such a thing!" Peach exclaimed hotly. "You can torment me all you like, but I'll never sign the Mushroom Kingdom over into your filthy hands!"

"Petty insults don't become a princess," Cyanara remarked sarcastically. "You will do as I say."

"Over my dead body will you rule the Mushroom Kingdom, Cyanara. And I mean that—literally!"

"Someday it may come to that, then, Peach," answered the Empress coldly. "First, however, I'll give you a chance to save your own worthless life. If you won't give in, then I'll have to resort to more...painful methods of extraction." Her black eyes burned with hidden anger. "Anyone who may have remained behind in your castle is already dead. I gave my guards express orders to spare no one."

Peach gasped. "No! You didn't!"

"Yes." Cyanara's cold black eyes leered at her sister. "You would be wise to cooperate and avoid further bloodshed."

"I'll never give you control of the Mushroom Kingdom!" cried Peach.

Cyanara fixed Peach with a look so full of hatred that Peach shrank back in fear. "Oh, you won't, will you?" inquired the Empress bitterly. Her eyes narrowed. "We'll just see about that." She snapped her fingers, and two Paroidian Guards stepped up to Peach's chair and wrenched her from her seat.

"Take her back to the holding room," instructed the Empress coldly.

"You can't be trusted, Cyanara!!" Peach screamed as the guards dragged her from the dining room.

Cyanara smiled and began her meal.

Mario, Luigi, and Amethyst covered their ears against the deafening thunder as they dashed along the muddy, rain-slick trails, seeking shelter from the storm. The leafy canopy overhead deflected some of the raindrops, but the millions that were not impeded in their fall plunged straight down onto the forest floor, making Mario's every step a treacherous mire. On the three companions ran, looking for a cabin, a cave, anything that would serve to keep them dry.

Of course the first accident _would _happen to Luigi.

One minute he was beside Mario. The next his feet went out from under him as he stepped too close to a downward-sloping side trail, and away he went, sliding madly down the shallow slope on the seat of his pants, yelling frantically the whole way. Mario, startled, also lost his balance and went sliding down right after Luigi. Amethyst stared after the two as they shot down the slippery slope.

Luigi hit bottom and began to slow down. "Whew!" he said in relief as he wiped the rainwater from his face. "That was actually kinda fun—"

The ground dropped away beneath him, and before he could even yell, he was bouncing down a set of granite steps that led below ground. A series of pained exclamations echoed out from the mouth of the staircase as his tailbone was pummeled without mercy.

Mario managed to stop himself before skidding onto the staircase. He stared at the set of steps, and a bell of recognition went off in his head.

"Hey, I know this place! This is Takanyar's old hideout, the one he used back when he stole the Staff of Dreams from the museum! It's deserted now, though. This is just what we've been wanting!"

Amethyst cautiously descended the slope on foot, grasping branches and tree trunks to keep from sliding down. At last she reached bottom and helped Mario up, and they slowly moved down the stairs into the empty underground lair, leaving the wind and rain behind them.

* * *

"No...no..." Peach sobbed into her pillow as she lay on the cot in the holding room. "My poor castle workers...killed by my own sister!" She clutched her pillow tightly. "It's too much! I can't stand anymore of her cruelty!"

A voice filtered into her thoughts. "Princess..."

Peach sniffled. "Wh-Who's there?"

"Over here, Princess."

She sat up, wiped her eyes, and looked around for the voice's owner. There was the little kitchen area, complete with ceramic sink and mini-refrigerator; the small wooden table and two matching chairs against the far wall; the hateful steel door to her right that kept her prisoner; the bare white walls all around her; the fluorescent lamps in the plaster ceiling whose light illuminated the short red carpet. But no one else was in the room.

"Cyanara's just playing tricks on me again," Peach sighed, the tears rolling down her cheeks. "For some reason she enjoys tormenting me." She lay back down and tried to sleep. It was getting rather late.

"Princess Peach..."

Slowly Peach sat back up, somewhat nervous. She sensed what could only be described as a presence, as if someone were watching her. She shivered. "Wh-Who is it?"

There was a whispering sound, and a ghostly figure floated right through the closed steel door and into Peach's room. The Princess opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Almost paralyzed with fright, she shrank back against the wall as she sat on her cot, staring at the apparition.

Suddenly, as Peach stared at the transparent being, all fear left her. Her eyes took in the ghost's appearance. He looked old, with graying beard and long gray hair, and wore a flowing white robe with delicately embroidered patterns on hem and cuffs. On his head was a shimmering tiara made of yellow crystal, and in his hands was a long staff of the same material. The Princess's mouth fell open as she recognized her visitor.

"Is that _you,_ Marlon?!"

"It is I, Princess." The elderly Star Sage fingered his staff.

Peach still stared at him. "B-But you're dead!"

"My body is dead, Princess. It is my spirit that speaks to you." Marlon gazed at Peach with sadness in his deep brown eyes. "I am come to warn you. Listen." He raised his staff. Immediately Peach heard two voices in the room, so clear they sounded as if the speakers were right next to her.

"Zaron! I summon you!"

Peach's eyes widened as she recognized Cyanara's voice. Then came a rasping response:

"I am here, O Great One."

"That's Zaron!" Peach whispered, frightened.

Cyanara's voice again echoed inside the holding room. "I have an assignment for you, Zaron."

"Name it, Master," Zaron rasped in reply.

"First, take this. It's a special hand-held teleportation device Sir Grodus developed for me. It will allow you to travel to any of the eight Mushroom Kingdom dimensions. But to use it, you'll need this."

Zaron gasped. "M-Master? The—Rainbow Ring?"

"The first Ring, the Jasper Ring. Take it. When placed in the device, it will open a portal to Red Dimension, the first of the kingdom dimensions, which encompasses Toadwood Forest and surrounding areas."

"And what is it you desire that I should do with these gifts, Great One?"

Cyanara's voice became low and vengeful. "Mario and Luigi are in that forest. Grodus's sensors have picked them up. They're waiting out a storm inside Takanyar's old hiding place."

If Peach could have seen Zaron's wicked smile as he heard this information, she would have been even more terrified.

"I understand, Master," Zaron replied eagerly.

"The Jasper Ring's power will aid you should you need it. Use it well. And Zaron—" Cyanara's voice became impatient. "Bring him back alive."

"Yes, Master."

Marlon lowered his staff, and the voices were silenced.

Peach shuddered. "Not Zaron! Oh, Mario!"

"Yes, Princess," Marlon said solemnly. "If he does not withstand Zaron's attack—"

"Don't say that!" Peach quickly interjected. "Please, don't!" She shut her eyes and forced herself to calm down. "Is there any way you can warn him?" she asked hopefully.

"If there were, I would have gone to him instead of you, Princess," Marlon replied. "Alas, Zaron's curse remains in place on me and my brethren, so that we cannot go to Mario's aid." He sighed. "My strength fades rapidly, and soon I must return to whence I came."

"Can you send someone to him, then?" Peach begged. "Please!"

"I can. I will send for him." Again Marlon raised his staff, and a small Star Kid with a cheery expression on his face materialized in front of Peach. She recognized him instantly.

"Twink!"

The little Star Kid smiled brightly. "Hi, Princess!"

"Farewell, Princess. My strength is spent. Perhaps I will see you again, perhaps not. Fate will decide." Marlon raised his hand in goodbye as he slowly vanished from sight.

"Twink, do you know what my sister did to my kingdom?" asked Peach anxiously.

Twink nodded vigorously. "Marlon told me everything!"

"Can you get to Mario?"

"I sure can!"

Peach breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! Tell him Zaron's coming after him. He's using a special device that lets him teleport between dimensions. Tell Mario he's not safe! Oh, and Twink?"

"Yes, Princess Peach?" asked Twink expectantly.

"Tell Mario I'm OK."

"I sure will!" Twink made a loop in mid-air. "I'm on my way!" The little Star Kid sped through the bars on Peach's door and out of sight. Peach turned out the light and lay down on her cot again. Soon she was fast asleep.

* * *

"Zzzzzz...zzzzzz..."

"Mario, wake up! Wake up!"

Mario groaned, mumbled something about a plate of spaghetti, and rolled over on the stone floor. His snoring resumed.

"Come on, Mario! I have to tell you something!""

"Huh? What?" Mario sat bolt upright. "Who's there?"

"It's me, Twink!" Twink exclaimed.

"Twink?" Mario's face broke into a smile. "Boy, it's been a while since I last saw you!"

"Mario, listen! Cyanara's sending a creepy guy named Zaron to—"

"Did I just hear my name?" came a raspy voice from around the corner of the underground room.

Twink blanched. "Oops, too late..."

Mario grabbed Luigi and shook him awake just before Zaron himself entered the room. "Well, well, I see the little pest named Twink got here first. Not that it really matters—" Zaron caught sight of the sleeping Amethyst across the room. "Aha! So _this_ is where Amethyst disappeared to! You pathetic plumbers had something to do with this, didn't you?" demanded the black-robed specter in his rasping voice.

"We found her out in the forest, soaking wet," Luigi stated simply. "We don't have a clue how she got there."

"Hmph, a likely story," Zaron sneered. "The Great One will greatly enjoy hearing you tell that to her face!"

"So Cyanara's still determined to get ahold of me, is she?" Mario asked stoutly.

Zaron bared his fangs at Mario. "I'm here for her sake—and for my own. I will _never_ forget the thrashing you gave me years ago in Bowser's dungeons! I _will_ have my revenge!"


	7. Gloom Town

"I'll see you lying dead at my feet yet, you so-called hero!" Zaron shouted as the purple gem atop his black Staff of Shadows began to glow. The next instant there was a boom of thunder, and the entire room was instantly filled with a thick black mist, so dense that neither Mario nor Luigi could see his hand in front of his face. Before either brother could react, Zaron rushed forward in the darkness and struck them down with a sweep of his staff. He aimed his staff at Mario's face, grinding his teeth in hatred.

Just before Zaron zapped him, Mario rolled to the side, allowing the bolt of dark energy to harmlessly scorch the floor. He sprang to his feet and threw a punch that sent Zaron into the wall. Mario and Luigi lit fireballs in their hands, dissipating a little of the gloom and revealing Zaron's silhouette coming toward them, red eyes burning from beneath his black hood. They parted and allowed Zaron to speed between them, smashing himself into the wall behind them. He staggered backward, stunned.

"Rather quick, aren't you?" Zaron grunted, regaining his balance. "Perhaps I'll cut the introductory thrashing and just wring your impudent little necks right now! Behold the power of evil!"

Zaron raised his Staff of Shadows, and his body began to glow green. Then a tremendous _WHOOSH _filled the room as a hurricane-force wind nearly threw Mario and Luigi to the floor.

"Don't move!" Mario yelled to his brother over the howling wind. "I saw this before when I fought Zaron in Bowser's dungeon! Stay put or you're dead!"

Luigi nodded, bracing himself against the blast.

There was another gale and a violent rumbling, and Mario and Luigi found themselves in a dome of air, completely surrounded by a pink protoplasmic gel. All through this room-filling substance floated little particles of dark matter, the fuel source for Zaron's energy. And facing the brothers from the far wall was Zaron's evil, leering face, with its two glowing red eyes glaring at the brothers in wicked glee.

"Wh-What in the world?!" managed Luigi in shock.

Zaron's cackle was more like a boom. "Remember this, Mario? Remember the pain? The agony you went through trying to defeat this form?"

Mario doubled his fist and socked a powerful punch to the wall of his protoplasmic prison. The gel shivered under the impact but did not give way. "And do you remember _defeat,_ Zaron?" he shouted back. "You'll get nowhere with this! I know your weakness!"

Zaron's face contorted with fury, and he let out a horrible, deafening screech of hatred that made Mario and Luigi wince and cover their ears. "You little plumber PEST!" he screamed. "How DARE you defy ME, the master of the darkness! You will pay for your words with your LIFE!!" The monstrous face lunged forward at them to emphasize the threat. "Darkness! Reach forth the cold fingers of death and consume them!"

At Zaron's command, the particles of darkness inside Zaron's room-filling protoplasmic body drew together into dozens of long black tentacles. These octopus arms snaked through the gel until they neared the brothers; then they suddenly whipped forward through the gel walls and seized the two with crushing force. There was no time for Mario or Luigi to dodge.

"Who's the one being defeated this time, Mario?" rasped Zaron with a grotesque grin. "Darkness! Pull them in and let them feel the true pangs of death!"

Before either brother could react, the tentacles jerked them into the sea of pink gel. The foul arms released them, but the two could barely move because of the thick gel encasing them. It felt like being buried in warm Jell-O.

"Suffocate them!" screeched Zaron in glee, revealing his fangs in a wicked smile.

Again the tentacles came at Mario and Luigi from all sides. Stubbornly the brothers tried to fight back—stubbornly but uselessly. Their movement was so hindered that there was little they could do. A single snaking tentacle wrapped itself around Mario's throat and began strangling him. Another seized Luigi's neck and made him gasp. Unable to breathe, the brothers struggled mutely against the choking arms.

"Give up!" cackled Zaron. "You can't win!"

"No," rang out a voice from the corner, "unless I help!"

Zaron's hovering face turned to see Amethyst standing in her own bubble of air, herself trapped by his ultimate form. She glared at him in defiance.

"What can you possibly do to save them now?" he asked snidely.

Amethyst raised her hand and transformed it into a searchlight. "This!"

The intense beam of light from Amethyst's searchlight blinded the darkness-loving Zaron. "AAAAAGH!" he screamed, his disembodied head reeling and quivering. "NO! STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!! AAAAAGH!!"

Amethyst turned the powerful beam onto the tentacles strangling Mario and Luigi; they vanished instantly, making Zaron scream in pain yet again.

"ENOUGH!" screeched Zaron. "NO MORE LIGHT!!" His head began to quake violently. The gel pulsed and shook, and in a burst of greenish light Zaron resumed his normal black-cloaked humanoid form, allowing Mario and Luigi to drop heavily to the floor.

Again Amethyst blinded Zaron with the light. The shadowy specter had little choice but to flee, and flee he did, screaming as he rushed out of the room.

"Mario!" Twink darted out of the corner he'd hidden in. "Mario, Zaron's got a device that lets him travel between dimensions! If you get that, you should be able to get to Princess Peach!"

Instantly Mario was on his feet. "We can't let him get away or we'll be stuck in this dimension forever! C'mon, we've gotta catch him!" He seized Luigi's arm, hauled him to his feet, and dashed out with his brother in tow. Amethyst and Twink followed close behind as Mario half-dragged Luigi down the dank underground hallway. The plumber caught sight of Zaron's tattered black robe disappearing up the flight of granite steps leading up to the surface.

"He's getting away!" Mario pumped his legs still faster, the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Seconds later the group burst out into the sunlight. The storm was long over; the sky was still gray and rainy, but no drops were falling. The ground was totally saturated.

"Where'd he go?" Luigi asked in puzzlement as the four halted just outside the hideout entrance, trees all around them.

"I'll find him!" Twink volunteered, flying up over the treetops. There were a few seconds of silence as the Star Kid scanned the surrounding area. Abruptly he waved to Mario and glided forward. Mario and the others immediately followed him. Soon Twink dropped back to Mario's level, motioning for all of them to stop.

"He's up ahead," whispered Twink. "Careful!"

Mario peeped around a tree. There was Zaron, busy with a white circular gadget in his hands.

_That must be the transport device, _Mario guessed. _But how to get it away from him?_

Suddenly Luigi burst forward and snatched the device from Zaron's fingers, returning to the group just seconds later with a triumphant grin on his face. "I got it!" he hollered, holding the machine aloft.

A torrent of screaming and cursing poured from Zaron's throat as he turned toward Luigi. The green-shirted plumber froze in his victory stance. Zaron aimed his staff directly at him.

"Run!" yelled Mario, and the group scattered as Zaron's staff shot an energy ray that sliced the tree Mario had been hiding behind in two. The mammoth crashed to the forest floor as Mario's group leaped clear of its fall.

Zaron bared his teeth in rage. "Bring that back NOW, you green imbecile!!" he screamed.

"This is the thing for sure, bro!" Luigi whispered to Mario as they and Amethyst crouched behind a thicket. "Just listen to how angry he is!"

"Must be important to him," quipped Mario dryly.

Suddenly the ground beneath them gave a lurch, and a huge portion of earth somehow wrenched itself from the ground and tilted at a crazy angle, catapulting the three from their hiding place into Zaron's line of sight. Walls of earth rose all around them and their enemy, far too high for even Luigi to leap over. The little group scrambled to their feet and clustered together.

"How is he _doing_ that?!" asked Luigi in disbelief.

Amethyst spotted the glowing red ring on Zaron's right index finger and gasped. "He's got one of the Rainbow Rings!"

Zaron grinned maniacally and held his hand high, showing off the brilliant red glow of the jasper stone set in his golden ring. "It is the Jasper Ring, entrusted to me by the Great One herself! I was told to use its powers against you should I have need. It would seem I do!" He bared his teeth again. "Hand over that device this instant!!"

"Not a chance!" retorted Mario, going into battle stance.

"Then prepare to meet your DOOM!!" Zaron screamed, again raising the Jasper Ring high. It gleamed with a fantastic brilliance, and two mammoth earthen hands broke through the ground, one on either side of Zaron. Luigi gulped.

"Attack!" screamed Zaron. "CRUSH THEM!!"

* * *

Shyga sat silently at Daisy's bedside, listening to the quiet beeping of the heart monitor. As Medic Guy had said, Daisy's heart rate slowed down and sped up completely unpredictably, making the monitor's beeping totally arhythmic. The chaotic anti-rhythm ground at Shyga's nerves. She'd been sitting there for most of the morning and the noise was becoming more than a mild annoyance.

"Your Highness?"

Daisy still stared blankly at the ceiling, completely unresponsive.

The blue-suited Shy Guy girl stroked Daisy's sweat-beaded forehead. "Your Highness, can you hear me?"

No response. Daisy was alive but mysteriously unable to interact with anything around her—awake yet asleep. In her mind she was desperately trying to respond, to move, to get up, to speak. For some strange reason, however, the only conscious movement she could make was a blink. Her entire body felt limp and helpless. And that strange vision still haunted her mind.

She saw Peach running from the Great One. A wall of Shroobs rose up before her, towering over her. The Great One overtook her fleeing captive and stabbed a hypodermic syringe into Peach's back. Peach screamed and collapsed as her hand began to gnarl and take on a bluish hue—then the dream stopped. It repeated itself over and over at infrequent intervals. Daisy tried to speak again but could not. She felt that she desperately needed to tell someone what she was seeing. But for the time being, she was powerless to do so.

* * *

As Zaron screamed his command to attack, the two giant hands of earth reached out to grab Mario, Luigi and Amethyst. The group was trapped inside Zaron's walled-in area, created by the earth-moving powers of the Jasper Ring, and had nowhere to run. They ran anyway, the hands following relentlessly behind them as they circled the area, ducking and weaving to avoid the deadly-accurate swipes of the two hands.

"Perhaps I'll get my hands on you yet, Mario!" Zaron cackled.

"Bad pun, you black-hearted creep!" Mario shouted back as he somersaulted forward to avoid a hand smack. He sprang to his feet and began hurling ice balls at Zaron.

"Bah! Begone!" Zaron puffed as the hands batted Mario's ice right back at him. "Seize him!"

Before Mario could react he'd been grabbed up by the massive hands.

"Crush him!!" cackled Zaron in glee.

Mario took aim and planted an ice ball between Zaron's eyes, making him stumble backward with a scream of pain. The plumber grinned. "Gotcha."

The hands quaked and, no longer under Zaron's concentration, released Mario, letting him hit the forest floor with a _thud._ He was back on his feet in moments, pummeling Zaron with more ice. The specter reeled under the hits.

"STOP! STOP THAT!!" he screamed, waving his hands wildly to block Mario's onslaught.

"Then get out and don't come back!" Mario shot back, breaking off the attack.

Zaron suddenly waved his hand, and the two Hands came right back at Mario, knocking his feet out from under him and pinning him to the ground. The enemy laughed maniacally at Mario's predicament. "You're not shooting at me from your stomach, Mario! I've got you now!"

"Let—go of me—Zaron!" Mario grunted as the hands bore their weight down on him.

Zaron, still laughing, made the hands squash Mario still more. "Never let your guard down around me! You'll live to regret it! Now hand over that device or I'll crush Mario into oblivion!"

Amethyst vanished. The next instant Zaron was flat on his back as an invisible fist struck him down. The Jasper Ring slipped from his finger.

"N-No! The Jasper Ring!" Zaron scrambled to his hands and knees and lunged at the object, but Amethyst bent down and plucked it from the earth. She looked at him in mock curiosity. "Looking for something?"

"Give that back!!" screamed Zaron, swiping at her with his sharp fingernails. She backed away from him and placed the Ring on her own finger. Instantly the hands ceased to crush Mario and hovered over the ground, awaiting the order of their new commander.

Amethyst pointed at Zaron. "Get him!"

"N-No!!" Zaron took one look at the oncoming hands and fled for his life. Amethyst, using the Jasper Ring's earth powers, dismantled the barrier of earth around them so Zaron could run away, the hands still pursuing him.

"Looks like we got what we wanted," Mario remarked while studying the white circular device intently. The gadget was about eight inches across and one inch thick with one tiny depression in its center. A single switch was located on its edge. Cautiously Mario flipped the switch on. Immediately a voice came from the device.

"Greetings, user. I am the DTD, the Dimensional Transport Device. State your name, please."

Mario was slightly taken aback. "Uh...I'm Mario."

"Mario..." The device whirred for a moment. "Pleased to meet you. You may call me DT."

"Just what are you?" questioned Mario.

DT's circuits buzzed busily, retrieving data from his memory banks. "I am an independently-functioning component of the TEC-XX, originally designed and built for the purpose of opening other dimensions for exploration and conquest. I am capable of transporting anything across dimensional boundaries."

"Sounds like something Grodus would do, all right," Mario muttered under his breath. "Listen, DT, since you're part of TEC, I assume you know about Princess Peach?"

"Correct," DT droned. "I have wireless access to TEC's entire memory. Why do you mention her?"

"She's been kidnapped again by Cyanara, DT, and we need your help to rescue her. She's in another dimension, and we can't get to her without your help." Mario felt a little strange trying to negotiate with a machine, but then stranger things had happened in the Mushroom Kingdom. Peach's life was at stake here. He would do what he had to.

"I am not programmed to assist the Great One's enemies," began DT cautiously.

"Would you rather let Peach die?" asked Mario pointedly, hoping the gadget would understand his logic.

DT whirred again, this time for several minutes, before finally replying. "If it means her life, TEC would desire that I help you. I have contacted him, and he has requested that I pass this information on to you. I will help you in any way possible."

"OK—so how do we get to another dimension?" Mario asked.

"My hardware has been specifically redesigned for this particular scenario," DT replied in his computerized drone. "Observe the depression on my upper surface. To access the portal to another dimension in the Mushroom Kingdom, you must possess the Rainbow Ring whose color corresponds to the color assigned that particular dimension. To reach Orange Dimension, for instance, you must place the gem from the orange Ring in contact with the depression on my surface. There is no other way."

Amethyst quickly stepped forward and placed the Jasper Ring's gem in the small depression. DT's circuits hummed for a moment.

"I am sorry. You are already in Red Dimension. This Ring cannot take you anywhere."

"Looks like Cyanara knew what she was doing," Mario commented grimly. "She's not about to let us get out of here that easily. Can you do anything about the problem, DT? Rewrite your own programming or something?"

"Perhaps TEC can assist me in resolving this dilemma. Please wait." DT began to emit a hum again as he communicated wirelessly with the moon base computer. Mario tapped his foot impatiently.

At last the white gadget ceased to hum. "Success. TEC has overwritten part of the security subroutine, enabling me to transport you to the next dimension in color order. But that is as far as I can take you. To reach the next dimension beyond that, you will need another Ring."

"It's a start, anyway," Mario said in relief. "And I've got a feeling Cyanara'll be sending more Ring-powered underlings our way. Let's go!" Amethyst again placed the Jasper Ring in contact with DT's depression, and a wide circular portal of orange energy opened wide before the group.

"I can't come along, Mario," Twink said regretfully. "I gotta get back to Star Haven. There's wishes to be granted, you know!"

"Then we'll see you later, Twink," Mario said in farewell. "Bye!" Together he, Luigi, and Amethyst stepped through the orange portal into Orange Dimension.

* * *

Ruby stirred and opened her eyes. "Ohhh..." she groaned as she felt the pain. For some reason the atmosphere in Cyanara's fortress was affecting her sensitive mind, attacking it like a slow disease. She could feel the evil creeping through her brain, inflicting its damage as it went, disrupting her thoughts and hindering her ability to control her own body. Of the six Guardians currently imprisoned in the Empress's fortress, Ruby was by far in the worst condition.

"I have to...get out of here," she moaned as she lay motionless on the stone floor of her tiny cell, running her hand over her aching head. "I can't...take this...forever..."

"So it seems Sister Ruby has a great weakness, hm?" came a smooth female voice from the other side of the steel door holding Ruby prisoner.

"Diamond..." groaned Ruby weakly. "Why...must you taunt me?"

"Because you always were a foolish little girl," replied the voice haughtily. Although Ruby could not see her sister Guardian, she could picture the raven-haired, rainbow-robed Diamond standing behind the door, sneering at her. She sighed and closed her eyes again.

"Just...go away..."

"I'm here to make you an offer, Ruby," Diamond continued. "Work with us. Work with me and the Great One. Together we can rule this world!"

Summoning all her remaining strength, Ruby stood painfully to her feet. "Don't even bother, Diamond! I will never cooperate! You turned against your sisters for the sake of power, and you would drag me down with you to destruction as well? Never will I...ah...agh..." Her knees gave way, and she collapsed to the floor, too exhausted to speak further.

"If you refuse, Ruby...well, the Great One will simply have to kill you. Is that what you want?"

Ruby suffered in silence, letting Diamond continue without interruption.

"Or perhaps that's not enough to make you break," Diamond added, voice dripping with honey. "Ah, I know! You can have Amber take your place as the one to be sucked dry of her power. That should be incentive enough."

"Don't...do that!" Ruby cried almost involuntarily.

"It's your choice, Ruby," Diamond said simply, her voice fading away as she walked away from the cell door.

Weakly Ruby turned onto her side. "What can I do?" she moaned. "I can't...just let them...torment Amber..." She struggled to maintain clear thinking against the evil creeping through her mind. "Amber...what has the Empress done...with you? With all..the others?" She groaned again.

In truth, the other Guardians were not much better off than Ruby. Cyanara had cleverly found a way to exploit each girl's weak point to ensure that escape was impossible. Amber's cell was a icebox, so cold that the heat-based Guardian could not keep warm, let alone use her powers of fire. Citrine was imprisoned in an all-wooden cell, rendering her electrical powers useless. A strong force field prevented Emerald from teleporting out of her prison. Aquamarine was kept in a heated cell with a constant temperature of one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, making the ice-type fifth Guardian unbearably hot. And perhaps most cunning of all, the walls of Sapphire's cell held a dark energy so intensely strong that even Sapphire's energybending powers could not affect it. The evil Empress had six Guardians under her control and one, Diamond, working for her. Only Amethyst, the seventh Guardian, remained to be caught.

* * *

Mario, Luigi, and Amethyst stepped out of the shimmering orange portal, and their feet hit solid rock. The portal closed, leaving the three in complete darkness.

"Where are we now?" Mario wondered aloud, cautiously venturing a few steps forward. "Feels like the floor's wet. Watch your step."

"It's too dark to see anything!" Luigi whimpered.

Amethyst again turned her hand into a searchlight. The powerful beam stabbed through the darkness. The Guardian cast the beam about, dimly illuminating the distant stone walls of what appeared to be a large cavern.

"Amethyst, give me some light over here," Mario requested. "Last thing I need is a serious fall." Amethyst obligingly shone the light at Mario's feet, and Mario again ventured forward carefully. Suddenly he stopped after having gone just a few feet.

"Whoa! Big drop-off here." Mario backed away from the edge and tried another direction. Again Amethyst guided him with the light; again he was confronted by a steep drop-off, the bottom of which he couldn't see. He tried yet another direction and found the same thing.

"Looks like we might be stuck here, guys," Mario finally announced.

A shout echoed through the hollow cavern. The three looked around and spotted a tiny figure holding a torch coming toward them. He appeared to be walking on air, but as he came closer, his torchlight revealed the thin rock bridge he was traversing. In a few minutes the figure reached their ledge, the torchlight showing him to be a Shy Guy.

"Welcome," greeted the Shy Guy uncertainly. "What brings you here?"

"It's a long story," Mario replied, avoiding the question. "Where exactly _are_ we?"

"You don't know?" The Shy Guy in gray frowned. "That's kind of...strange. You're in Subterra Caverns, beneath Toad Town."

"_Beneath_ Toad Town?" Luigi questioned.

"That's right," the Shy Guy answered. Suddenly his face lit up. "Wait a minute! I know you two! You—" he pointed at Luigi— "are Luigi! And you, in the red cap with the 'M' on it, are, uh...what's your name...it's on the tip of my tongue...uh..."

"Mario," Mario finished for him with a roll of his eyes.

"Yes, Mario. Sorry, my memory's not been the best lately." The gray Shy Guy gestured toward himself. "I am a Gloom Guy. I and my fellow Gloom Guys all live down here in this gloomy cave." Gloom Guy motioned toward the narrow rock bridge. "Follow me. I'll take you to our underground town."

Obediently Mario, Luigi, and Amethyst followed Gloom Guy onto the thin bridge. The three newcomers were obviously unsure of themselves on the narrow walkway, but Gloom Guy had no trouble keeping his footing.

"You know, we've been having a lot of Toads coming down from the surface lately," remarked Gloom Guy as he led the way over the narrow bridge. "They say these weird guys in red uniforms with white X's over their chests are overrunning Toad Town."

Mario and Luigi exchanged glances.

"Sounds like things aren't exactly rosy in Toad Town," Mario muttered under his breath. "And the town's barely been rebuilt from the Shadow Legion's destruction. Looks like we're gonna have our hands full with the X-Nauts again."

The group reached the end of the rock arch, passed through a wide tunnel, and emerged onto a cliff overlooking another large cavern, this one lit by countless flaming torches. Spread through this cavernous space were hundreds of cubical stone buildings, arranged in neat rows along stone streets. In fact, most of the town seemed to be made entirely of stone. Luigi whistled in amazement.

"What a place," Mario breathed. "I had no idea such a big town was down here!"

"Well, it's been growing like crazy ever since the Toad Towners started coming down from the surface," Gloom Guy offered, "but there's still lots of room in the caverns. We could fit all of Toad Town down here with room to spare."

With that little boast, Gloom Guy led the trio down a steep stone trail literally carved into the cliff face. The path would descend steeply for several yards, level out, make a sharp U-turn, and begin descending again. Here, once again, Gloom Guy kept his footing easily, but Mario, Luigi, and Amethyst found themselves _sliding _down more often than _walking_ down.

At last they reached the bottom of the cliff and stepped off the trail onto a torchlit stone street, bustling with hundreds of Toads and Gloom Guys. Mario and company tried to see everything at once in this unique underground city as Gloom Guy led them through the streets toward his home.

Gloom Guy stepped off the street and pushed open the door of one of the stone buildings. "Home sweet home," he said with a smile. "Go on in."

Mario set foot in the small dwelling, curiously examining every inch of the place. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all stone. The chairs and table were of the same material. Cabinets, shelves, even the doorknobs were of stone. The only noticeable non-granite feature was the mattress on Gloom Guy's otherwise-stone bed.

"Nice place," Luigi commented somewhat uncertainly as they entered. "Could use some lights, though."

Gloom Guy grinned. "We're working on getting electricity down here. Maybe someday." He fingered the doorknob. "I'm going to get Toad Town's mayor over here. He can explain what's going on up there better than I can." The gray Shy Guy turned and became lost to sight in the crowd on the street. Mario, Luigi, and Amethyst seated themselves around the stone table to wait for his return.

It was only ten minutes before Gloom Guy came back, this time with a single Toad in tow. "This is Mayor Gray T. of Toad Town," he said in introduction. The mayor nodded to Mario and his friends and sat down at the table with Gloom Guy.

"So, Mayor," Mario began, "what's going on up there in Toad Town? Gloom Guy told us about the X-Nauts...?"

"It's true," Gray T. answered. "Just yesterday the sky flashed a brilliant orange for a brief moment. Sometime around noon, I think it was. It wasn't but a few hours before a black portal opened up in Toad Town square and those accursed X-Nauts came swarming out. Seems like the two events are connected somehow but I don't know how."

"Did everyone make it down here all right?" Mario questioned.

Mayor Gray shook his graying head. "I'm afraid not. There should still be several dozen citizens up there somewhere."

Mario was taken aback. "There are still people up there with those X-Naut creeps?"

"You're not thinking of going up there, are you?" asked the mayor anxiously. "Please don't even try it, Mario! The X-Nauts have advanced weaponry with them. For your own safety, _please_ remain down here!"

"I don't have much choice, Mayor," Mario replied. "Eventually the X-Nauts will find this place and you'll all be either dead or taken prisoner. If I go up there, maybe I can find a way to stop them altogether. Besides, those few dozen still up there need help." He stood up from his chair. "Come on, Luigi, Amethyst. We're headed for the surface."

"I'll guide you to the surface exit," Gloom Guy volunteered, standing and heading for the door. "Follow me!"


	8. X Nauts in Toad Town

"Well done, Ray," Cyanara congratulated her assistant. "The DNA is matchless in quality. You're even more skilled than I thought."

"Thank you, Master," replied Ray solemnly. "The DNA is now ready for injection into the test subjects." He looked up from his computer monitor. "The prisoners in the dungeon?"

"Someone even better," Cyanara remarked. "Guards! Bring in the casket!"

"Casket?" questioned Ray, startled. "Master, surely you don't intend to test this solution on a—"

"On a dead man?" finished Cyanara with a mysterious smile. "But I do, Ray." She turned to the guards who were entering the laboratory, bearing the casket in question between them. They placed it on one of the tables and left as silently as they had come.

The Empress wasted no time in unfastening the latch that held the lid down. "I chose this particular corpse because it happens to mean a lot to my little sister. Open it, Ray."

Ray hesitantly lifted the lid a little and wrinkled his nose. "Smells rather strong, Master. Are you sure about this?"

"Do it," ordered Cyanara.

Ray hefted the lid up and gasped. "M-Master?! You—we are running the test on—"

Cyanara smiled. "Yes, Ray. On Toadsworth himself. Now fill the syringe and give him the injection as planned."

Uncertainly Ray did as he was told, not at all certain about the result of this...bizarre experiment. He slowly drew the purple solution he'd prepared earlier into the hypodermic syringe. Then, the needle ready, he moved to the casket and looked down at Toadsworth's lifeless body.

"What are you waiting for?" asked Cyanara impatiently. "Do it!"

Ray forced the needle through Toadsworth's flabby, decaying flesh and injected him with the DNA solution. Withdrawing the needle, he stepped back to view the results. Several minutes passed and nothing happened.

"Perhaps that dose wasn't strong enough," Cyanara suggested at last.

"Or perhaps it does nothing to begin with," Ray countered. "He's dead, Master. How could it possibly affect him?"

Cyanara turned her eyes back to Toadsworth. A crafty smile slowly spread over her face. "It's happening, Ray. It's happening. Watch!"

Toadsworth's left arm, the arm into which the solution had been shot, was no longer normal flesh and bone. It had taken on the form of a purple appendage with a steel-clawed pincer in place of a hand. The purple discoloration was slowly spreading from his arm over his chest, across his face, down his legs. Within half an hour the corpse was totally alien in appearance.

"It works," Cyanara breathed. "Now, arise, Shroobsworth!"

The form in the casket opened its eyes, revealing ghastly red pupils. It flexed its pincers. Slowly it pushed itself upright and climbed out of the coffin to stand on its own two feet on the tile floor. It bowed low to Cyanara.

Ray caught his breath. "I-It's a miracle, Master!"

Cyanara smiled. "Keep working on the starter cells, Ray. I need an army of those purple parasites as soon as possible." She beckoned to Shroobsworth to follow her, and obediently he trailed close behind as she left the lab. A little chuckle escaped her lips.

_Time to give little sister the scare of her life!_

The Empress led her new Shroob steward through the halls of her fortress, stopping in front of Peach's holding room. "Little sister!" she called merrily.

Peach groaned inwardly as she heard her older sibling's cheery voice. _What's she up to this time?_ she sighed to herself. "What is it, Cyanara?"

"I've brought Toadsworth to see you," came the reply.

"Don't play games with me, Cyanara," Peach groaned in frustration. "You know Toadsworth is dead! You were the one who had the Shadow Legion kill him!" She began to cry at the memory.

"Oh, but I've brought him back to life, Peach, and he _so_ much wants to see you," replied Cyanara sweetly.

"I take it you're not giving me a choice, are you?" grumbled Peach. "Go ahead, send in the impostor. Probably it's Doopliss-turned-Toadsworth." Peach turned to the door as Cyanara unlocked and opened it. She gasped when she saw who was with Cyanara.

"No!" Her hands flew to her mouth in shock. "Y-You didn't..._Toadsworth!!"_

"Not Toadsworth," corrected Cyanara. "Shroobsworth."

Terrified at her steward's reincarnation, Peach backed into the corner of the holding room and shrank back against the wall. "T-Toadsworth, please! Show your real self!" she pleaded in fright.

Shroobsworth stroked his gray mustache, clacked his cane, and suddenly sprang forward into the room at Peach. The Princess screamed in terror. "N-No! Cyanara, please! Call him back!"

The angry Shroobsworth bared his fangs and shouted something in guttural Shrooboid.

"He says he's going to kill you, Peach," Cyanara calmly interpreted from the doorway.

Peach cowered in the corner, too frightened to reply.

Cyanara allowed Shroobsworth to terrify Peach for a few moments more, then called him out of the room. Shakily Peach got to her feet.

"You might want to reconsider signing over that kingdom of yours, Peach," Cyanara informed her sister coldly. "If you don't, Toadsworth won't be the only one to become a Shroob." Abruptly she turned and left, locking the door behind her. Still somewhat shaky, the Princess sank onto her cot to recover from her ordeal.

"How could she do that to him?!" she finally burst out, releasing a flood of tears. "As if it weren't enough that he was dead!" She sobbed uncontrollably. "And now she's going to turn more of my precious people into those monstrous Shroobs!"

* * *

"Where is that Zaron?" Cyanara grumbled to herself as she paced the black marble floor of her throne room. "He should have returned with that pathetic plumber Mario by now." After a few more minutes of impatient waiting, she quickly left the throne room and climbed the stairs to the second floor of the fortress. She then negotiated a series of corridors until she came to a steel door. Opening the door, she stepped into what appeared to be a large, well-lit factory and shut the door behind her. The whir and buzz of electrical equipment filled her ears. Virtually the entire area was made of steel, and hundreds of X-Nauts were bustling about, tending the countless pieces of complex machinery. Cyanara lifted her voice above the din.

"Grodus!"

In a few moments the black-caped, staff-wielding X-Naut leader moved swiftly up to the Empress, his computerized helmet gleaming in the fluorescent lamps. He bowed. "I am at your service, O Great One."

"Where is your other DTD?" Cyanara asked peremptorily.

Grodus reached a gloved hand beneath his cloak and pulled out the white gadget. "Here."

"Open a portal to Red Dimension this instant!"

"I will need the master key, Great One," explained Grodus patiently. Quickly Cyanara removed the black eighth Rainbow Ring from her left index finger and fitted it into the DTD's central depression. Grodus entered a command into his specially-built DTD's keypad, and a glowing red energy portal opened before him and Cyanara.

"Zaron! I summon you!" barked the Empress angrily. Instantly the black-robed figure appeared in front of Cyanara with his characteristic puff of smoke. He was panting heavily. Grodus closed the portal.

"What is the meaning of this delay?" demanded the Empress.

"O Great One," Zaron wheezed, "those imbecilic plumbers stole my DTD and the Jasper Ring! I could not return without them!"

Cyanara struck Zaron to the floor with her fist. "You fool!" she exploded. "If they figure out how the DTD functions, they could easily travel from dimension to dimension and utterly disrupt my plans!" Her face blackened with rage, and she prepared to hit Zaron again.

Zaron cowered on the floor. "A-And Amethyst is with them!"

Cyanara's fist froze in mid-air. "...What...did you just say?" she asked harshly, eyeing him as if daring him to lie.

"S-She's there, Master!" Zaron cried. "I saw her! She's with Mario and Luigi!"

"Impossible..." Cyanara's face registered puzzlement. "How could she possibly have gotten out there?"

"I don't know," Zaron answered tremblingly, "but it is true!"

The rage vanished from Cyanara's face. "At least you've done _something_ helpful, Zaron," she spat. "Begone."

Zaron disappeared in another puff of smoke.

"My plan will have to undergo a bit of alteration," Cyanara said at last. She removed the orange Rainbow Ring from her right middle finger and placed it on Grodus's corresponding finger. "I want you to pay a visit to Orange Dimension tomorrow. Perhaps they've found Mario and his two companions have arrived in their little dimension."

"It will be my pleasure to deal with them, Great One," Grodus replied.

"And now I have business to attend to with my Guardian 'guests,'" said Cyanara in farewell. "See to it that you bring Mario to me alive, and Amethyst as well." She left the X-Naut facility with a chuckle, heading for the solitary confinement cells that housed the prisoner Guardians.

As Cyanara traversed the hallways of her fortress, Diamond suddenly appeared at her side. The Empress smiled. "Sneaking up on your leader unnoticed again, Diamond?"

"Invisibility has its fine points," Diamond returned with a sly smile.

Cyanara laughed. "Quick of wit as usual, Diamond."

"I informed 'sister' Ruby of the consequences should she refuse to assist you, Great One," Diamond related to her superior as the two walked toward the confinement cells.

"Excellent," replied the Empress, her eyes alight with evil pleasure. "I can't wait to see the look on her face when I suck her sister dry of her rainbow power. If it doesn't kill her outright, it will weaken her so severely that she won't survive long anyway. You _do_ have the energy-converter syringe with you?"

Diamond patted her robe's inner pocket. "But of course."

Abruptly the two stopped in front of a solid steel door set into the stone wall of the hallway. From behind it they could hear the tortured moans of Ruby, whose mind was slowly being destroyed by the evil presence in the fortress.

"This is Ruby's cell," Diamond said quietly.

"Open it," ordered Cyanara. Diamond complied, taking a key card from her robe pocket and sliding it through the card reader beside the door. Immediately the lock clicked open, and the door swung inward as Diamond and the Empress entered the tiny cell. Ruby lay still on her back, her face strained and beaded with sweat as she desperately tried to maintain consciousness against the incessant evil flooding her mind. She looked up in despair as her two enemies entered.

"Why...are you here?" Ruby forced out through chapped lips. "Please...just...leave me...alone... I'll...die soon...anyway...if I can't leave..." She breathed another ragged, tortured breath and shut her eyes in exhaustion.

"That's why I'm here, Ruby," spoke Cyanara earnestly. She bent closer to her captive. "If you agree to help me, I'll see to it that your condition is properly treated. But if you refuse..."

Ruby said nothing, still laboring for every breath she took.

"Time's up, Ruby. Make your choice." Diamond's tone was less than pleasant.

"I'm...sorry..." murmured Ruby, "but...I won't...do it..."

Silently Cyanara turned to Diamond. "Bring Amber to me."

In less than a minute Diamond was back, half-dragging a shivering Amber. The Empress smiled cunningly.

"Wh-What are you d-doing with m-me?" demanded Amber through chattering teeth.

Ruby opened her eyes wide when she heard Amber's voice. "N-No! Don't...hurt her!" she choked out.

Cyanara nodded to Diamond, who reached under her robe and pulled out a four-inch empty vial with a small electronic device sealing its open end. The black-haired eighth Guardian smiled gleefully as she flicked a switch on the apparatus, and a hum filled Amber's ears.

"Diamond?!" Amber's face went white. "What are you _doing?!_"

"Do it, Diamond," ordered the Empress.

"It will be my pleasure, Great One," replied Diamond. She pushed a button on the tiny machine, and a razor-sharp two-inch needle shot up from the device, giving it the appearance of an oversized syringe. Then, without warning, Diamond suddenly stabbed the needle deep into Amber's back. Amber screamed in pain, but Diamond's iron grip on her kept her from escaping.

Diamond held the needle in place for over a minute as her victim screamed hysterically. The vial attached to the needle slowly filled with a clear liquid. When it was full, Diamond ripped the needle out of Amber's back, and the pale-faced Guardian toppled onto her face, unconscious.

"It functioned perfectly, Master," Diamond remarked while studying the liquid in the vial. "Amber's energy was flawlessly converted into matter."

"Take that vial to Ray in the laboratory and have him analyze it," ordered the Empress. Diamond rushed off.

"I'll just leave Amber in this cell with you, Ruby," Cyanara told her captive sweetly. "Perhaps she'll let you know just how much she appreciates your choice—and the pain it brought her." Abruptly Cyanara turned and left the cell, locking the door behind her.

"Amber..." murmured Ruby, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

* * *

"Hurry! Over here!" Mario whispered loudly as he crouched inside a gutted house with huge holes in its walls. Several dozen Toads quickly dashed across the cratered street and took refuge in the ruined building. A quick head count told Mario that all forty of his charges were safe. He turned to Luigi. "How much farther to the secret entrance to Subterra Caverns?"

Luigi did some quick mental math. "Uh...seven hundred feet, I think, give or take a few hundred."

Mario rolled his eyes.

"Mario, there's a squad of X-Nauts coming our way!" Amethyst whispered. "On your left!"

Peeping out from one of the holes in the walls, Mario spotted the small group of X-Nauts Amethyst had warned him about. "Everyone hide!" he said as loud as he dared. Immediately everyone in the building scrambled to find a hiding place—behind piles of rubble, under pieces of plaster from the destroyed ceiling and walls, anywhere there was enough room for a Toad to squeeze in. Mario prostrated himself in the ashes under his feet and held his breath as the enemy marched by. After a few seconds of silence, Mario cautiously lifted his head and looked out the gaping hole in the wall. No one was in sight. The air held the incredible silence of a war-destroyed city.

"Clear!" Mario whispered hoarsely. Forty Toads appeared instantaneously in the building. All were slightly dirtier than before, but still safe.

Suddenly a single X-Naut soldier walked right in front of the ruined, roofless building. Everyone froze as the lone X-Naut in his red uniform and plastic goggles stopped and stared right at them. Then he lifted his radio to his lips like lightning.

"Unit 573 to HQ! I've spotted a—OOMPH!" He crashed to the street as Mario tackled him, his radio flying to one side. With one punch to the head Mario sent the X-Naut into oblivion. Quickly he snatched up the soldier's radio and scrambled back into the burned-out building.

"Unit 573!" barked the radio. "Your transmission was interrupted. Please repeat your last call." Mario held the radio tensely as the refugees stared at it in hushed silence.

"Unit 573, please respond!"

Then came the bombshell. "All units in Sector 3! Unit 573 is not responding to radio contact. Use his homing signal to locate the unresponsive unit and converge on his location. Repeat, converge on location!"

"This is _not_ good," Mario said tersely. "We need a plan. Luigi and Amethyst, get everyone into the cave and seal the entrance. Hurry—before those X-Nauts get here!" He leaped out of the building and onto the street.

"What on earth are you doing, bro?!" Luigi asked anxiously.

"I'm gonna lead those soldiers far away from _here!_" he replied before dashing off down the street, moving away from the secret entrance to Subterra Caverns. Luigi tried to protest, but Mario was already gone.

"Well, Amethyst," Luigi finally said, "let's get moving before we're caught!"

The sun was beginning to sink beneath the horizon as Mario raced away from the burned-out building, dodging the craters in the cobblestone streets as he attempted to get as far from the group of refugees as possible.

"HQ, Unit 573's homing signal is moving," squawked the radio as Mario ran.

"Copy that. We've verified that on our monitors," answered HQ. "Find that signal! Something's wrong out there!"

"So my hunch was right," Mario puffed as he kept charging down the empty street. "The radio's got a homing device that tells the X-Naut headquarters where each unit is. This is one time X-Naut technology backfires!" Having got a good distance from the refugees, Mario hurled the radio into a smoking, half-demolished warehouse and started back to rejoin the group. He didn't get far before a platoon of X-Nauts appeared in the road ahead.

"HQ!" shouted the platoon's radio operator. "This is Patrol Squadron Epsilon! We have a visual on Mario moving away from Unit 573's homing signal! What do you advise?"

Mario took one look at the hesitating troops and ran, taking advantage of his opportunity to gain some ground on them. He had to lose them before heading back to the secret entrance or he would give away their hiding place.

"WHAT?!" exploded a different voice over the radio. "Mario's not supposed to be in this dimension! This is Commander Thompson. Pursue and destroy target! Repeat, pursue and destroy target!"

"Yessir!" The radio operator ended the transmission. "Don't let Mario get away, men! Chase him down and shoot him on sight!" The platoon burst into a run, charging down the street directly toward Mario.

As Mario ran from his pursuers, more X-Naut soldiers jumped out of the buildings along the street and began firing their laser weapons at him. Mario ducked and weaved to avoid the sizzling beams and kept running.

"He's escaping!" Quickly the X-Naut radio operator made an urgent call. "Sector 7! This is Patrol Squadron Epsilon, Sector 3. Mario's heading your way! Get every available man together and march south down Toad Parkway to head him off!"

Mario still kept running.

* * *

Peach started and spun around as the door to her holding room swung open. A look of fright broke over her face, and she backed against the kitchen sink.

"Cyanara!"

The Empress smiled as she entered the room. "I thought you might like some company at dinnertime." She seated herself at the small table, inviting Peach with a gesture to sit down.

"Anyone's company but yours," Peach retorted, keeping her back against the countertop edge.

"My, that's hospitable of you," remarked Cyanara dryly. "I'll come right to the point." She held up her hands. "See anything different?"

Peach stared at her sister's upraised hands. "The Rainbow Rings...they're...they're missing..."

Cyanara nodded and wiggled her left index finger, which still bore the black eighth Ring. "All but this one."

"What did you do with the other seven?" Peach asked, not letting on to the fact that she knew Zaron had been given one.

"Oh," Cyanara replied off-handedly, "I gave them to five of my most trusted servants."

"Only five?"

"Of course, five," answered the Empress impatiently. "Didn't you hear me the first time? When I say _five,_ I mean _five._ One Ring to each. The fourth and seventh Rings still await their users, and, well, that's because their users have yet to be...reborn." A sly smile split her face.

"...Wait," Peach slowly interjected. "You're sending one person to each dimension to try to stop Mario, aren't you?"

"You catch on quickly," Cyanara replied, folding her hands and resting them on the table. "But you're only partially correct. I'm not trying to _stop_ Mario at all. Every time he gets another Rainbow Ring, he can travel to the next dimension in color order—red, orange, yellow, and so on. And he _knows_ you're here, Peach. I've made sure of that."

"So I'm the..._bait?_" gasped Peach in realization.

"Mm-hm," Cyanara answered with another smile. "The bait's on the hook, and the hook's in the pond. All Mario can do, whether he likes it or not...is _bite._" She relaxed in her chair. "Do you recall the incident in Penumbra's Tomb, Peach? The one where I tried to use Mario to awaken the ultimate evil force?"

Peach only stood there by the kitchen counter, paralyzed by fear.

"Mario is the only one who is capable of breaking the seal that imprisons that evil," Cyanara informed her captive. "Once he's in my grasp, I'll use him to unleash that evil and use it to conquer the entire planet. Yes, I know, sounds rather evil-villain cliché, but that's the plan. And once I've seized control of every city, nation, and empire, every one of the world's leaders will have no choice but to turn over their crowns, their titles, and their positions of authority over to _me._" She paused in her unfolding of her grand scheme and smiled at her younger sister. "I've got my eye on bigger game than just this one kingdom, Peach. The Mushroom Kingdom is only a starting point. And if I can't get my revenge now, all the conquest in the universe won't satisfy me." Her eyes stared hungrily at Peach. "There's no escape for either you _or_ Mario this time, Peach. Once he's out of the way, there won't be anything to stop me from killing you."

Peach trembled in fright. Cyanara's ultimate plan was incredibly vast and well-planned indeed. And as for stopping it—well, a lot of good she would do locked up in her sister's fortress. She was powerless, utterly powerless to help. She knew it. But what was worse—Cyanara knew it too. And she liked it.

"Oh, by the way," Cyanara added, rising to leave, "you'd better pray Mario doesn't make it to Green Dimension. I've got a little surprise waiting for him there that I don't think either of you will enjoy." With one more mysterious smile, the Empress swept out of the room and locked the door behind her, leaving Peach to wonder at her last statement. A fleeting thought crossed her mind. She pushed it aside, but it kept coming back to haunt her.

_Is she planning to use...me? But...how could she possibly use me against Mario?_

* * *

"Huff...huff..." Mario panted as he sealed the secret entrance to Subterra Caverns safely shut. "Man, Grodus has really had his troops on a training regimen. They're a lot faster than they used to be!" He removed his cap and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "And those laser pistols—wow! Talk about packing a punch!" He fingered the singed spot on his sleeve where a single laser had barely missed him. After resting a few moments more, he replaced his cap on his head and started down the treacherous slimy steps into the caverns, being careful of his footing.

Having reached the bottom safely, Mario quickly covered the few hundred feet separating him from the underground town. He retraced the route he, Luigi, and Amethyst had taken from Gloom Guy's house until he found himself back at the familiar doorway. He pushed the door open and entered.

"You're back," Luigi said with obvious relief, pushing his chair back from the table. "Man, I was getting worried about you, bro!"

"The same goes for me," Amethyst added. "Did the X-Nauts give you a lot of trouble?"

"That's the understatement of the year," Mario quipped dryly. "Was it my being gone for six hours that tipped you off?"

"Yeah, and you missed dinner, too," Luigi informed him.

Mario shrugged. "I'm not even hungry. Running on an empty stomach for so long killed my appetite. I'm just dog tired!"

"It is getting late," Gloom Guy spoke up. "You three are welcome to spend the night here."

"Proposal accepted," Mario replied with a yawn. "I'll take the floor." He dropped to the floor near the door and was sound asleep in seconds.

* * *

Cyanara opened the door of her prized laboratory to find it completely trashed. Shattered test tubes lay everywhere; glass covered the tables and floor; chemical spills stained the tile; the computer monitors and lab equipment were smashed to atoms; in short, the place looked like the aftermath of a tremendous earthquake. Ray was on his knees in the middle of the floor, trying to sweep up the glass with a handbrush.

"Ray! What is the meaning of this?!" exploded the Empress.

The muscular lab assistant looked up through his crooked glasses. "The experiment was a success, Master," he said simply.

"_Success?!_ What kind of success is _this?!_" Cyanara stormed, indicating the ruined laboratory with a sweep of her arm. "And _this_ late at night?!"

Ray stood to his feet and straightened his glasses. "I injected a tiny amount of the liquefied energy from Amber into one of the Shroobs from the cryogenic hibernation capsules. The creature began to spawn new life forms at an astronomical rate."

Cyanara's eyes began to gleam with excitement.

"I finally managed to seal the original subject and all the genetic copies inside the cryogenic storage room, but not before they wrecked the laboratory." Ray hung his head. "I am sorry, Master."

"Sorry?" The Empress walked up to her assistant. "Ray, you've done it! This is exactly what I've been trying to do for weeks!"

"You have been trying to destroy your own laboratory?" Ray questioned half-jokingly.

"No, you idiot!" blustered Cyanara. "The reproduction rate! It's perfect! I could have _millions_ of Shroobs just for the taking! Once again the Mushroom Kingdom will be overrun by the alien hordes!" She smiled, her eyes glittering.

Ray smiled in disbelief, not having expected such a positive reaction. "I-I am glad to help, Master!"

"Keep working on the original Shroob DNA experiment," Cyanara instructed, black eyes aglow with possibilities. "I'll be needing an _extra_-strong dose of the DNA solution tomorrow." With that, she turned and left the lab, leaving Ray to do the clean-up.

A Paroidian Guard stepped up to her as she emerged from the laboratory. He bowed. "Great One, the men at the Princess's castle have searched everywhere but cannot find the eighth Rainbow Disc. Apparently it is not there."

"Hm. I see." Cyanara began walking away. "My power is incomplete without the eighth Disc. Keep looking. Tear the castle apart stone by stone if you must, but _find that Disc!_"

* * *

"Come on, bro, wake up! We're in big trouble now!"

Mario sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What's going on?" He checked his watch. Unbelievably he'd slept until ten o'clock in the morning.

"It's Grodus! He's here! In this dimension!" Luigi was almost frantic.

Immediately Mario was on his feet. "And?"

"He's ordered his troops to scour every inch of the city until they find you!" Luigi informed him. "Already they've made several near passes by the secret entrance, and it's only a matter of time before they find it. We've gotta stop those X-Nauts before they get down here!"

"Then let's go! No time to lose!" Mario bolted out the door of Gloom Guy's cubical dwelling into the torch-lit streets of the underground town, Luigi close behind him. Together they ran through the town and up the slippery steps that led to the surface and the secret trapdoor. Amethyst was there waiting for them.

"Mario, the Jasper Ring is behaving strangely," she told him with a puzzled expression. "It's been glowing off and on all morning, and as I was coming here, the glow kept getting brighter and brighter." The violet-haired Guardian held out her hand. On her right index finger was the Jasper Ring, glowing a dull red.

"There must be another Ring up there!" Mario guessed after a moment's thought. "They're reacting to one another! It's like playing hot and cold, see? The closer we get to the other Ring—" He thrust Amethyst's hand toward the secret entrance, and the glow brightened ever so slightly.

"—The brighter it glows!" Luigi finished. "Bro, you've got it! And once we get that other Ring, we can use DT to get to the next dimension!"

Amethyst removed the Jasper Ring and placed it on Mario's finger. "You two go. I'll guard the entrance."

Mario hesitated a moment, then nodded briefly and continued up the steps to the trapdoor. He and Luigi waited there silently, listening for any activity above them. Satisfied that all was quiet, Mario slowly lifted the trapdoor and climbed out into a ruined shop. Luigi was right behind him, closing the door after he himself had also come up to the surface. The brick and rubble fastened to the top of the trapdoor matched the wrecked interior of the shop perfectly, making the door practically invisible to any roving eyes.

"Looks like we're safe for now," Luigi whispered tersely after scanning the deserted building.

"Let's go." Mario led the way outside, watching the Jasper Ring closely. It seemed to glow more brightly than it had before. "Looks like we're headed in the right direction." After furtively looking up and down the cratered street to be sure no X-Nauts were in sight, the brothers dashed across the street and ducked into the relatively unharmed building in front of them. It had only its windows broken and the front door torn off its hinges, not to mention a few holes burnt in the roof. Still, it was in better shape than most of the other town structures.

After repeating the process of hide, wait, look, cross street, and hide dozens of times, always heading in the same general direction, Mario and Luigi found themselves in a large warehouse with holes rusted through its metal walls and broken wooden packing crates strewn about the floor. The Jasper Ring on Mario's index finger was glowing intensely.

"I'd say we're about as close as we're ever going to get, bro," whispered Mario in the stillness inside the dilapidated structure. "Let's have a close look around this place." The two split up and began to comb the warehouse, looking for any sign of another Rainbow Ring—a hidden door, a teleporter, anything unusual.

Every time Mario passed the center of the roofless building, he noticed that the Jasper Ring would suddenly flare up and glow more brightly than ever before. When he would leave the central area, the Ring would settle down to its former lustrous shine. The phenomenon puzzled him, but he kept on with his search amongst the crates and boxes and rusty old equipment littering the warehouse.

Finally Mario gave in to the nagging feeling he had about the warehouse's center and called Luigi over. "Watch the Ring," he instructed his sibling as he stepped into the relatively uncluttered floor of the central spot. Luigi's eyes widened as the Ring's brightness suddenly intensified.

"You think the second Ring's under our feet, here in the center?" he asked.

Both brothers got down on their knees and started prying up the rotten floorboards. Once they had removed the boards, Luigi started sifting through the loose dirt beneath. After five minutes he gave up. "There's nothing down here but dirt." He got to his feet in disgust.

Mario started to turn away, but an idea suddenly struck him, and he returned his attention to Luigi. "Did you just say there's nothing _down_ here?" he asked slowly.

The same thought occurred to Luigi almost at once. The brothers' eyes met and locked.

Slowly, uncertainly, both Mario and Luigi raised their heads and stared into the clear blue sky above. Well, the sky was _mostly _clear—clear except for the massive black flying saucer hovering hundreds of feet above them. Emblazoned on the saucer's underbelly was a huge red rectangle with a white _X_ over it—the insignia of the X-Nauts.

"It's Grodus," Mario guessed. "Who else could it be?"

Luigi nodded, still awed by the monstrous flying machine.

"The second Rainbow Ring must be in that ship," Mario said with finality in his voice. "The problem is, just how are we going to get up there?"

No sooner had Mario spoken than a brilliant white beam more than five feet in diameter stretched rapidly down from the saucer to the very spot occupied by the brothers. The next thing they knew they were inside the X-Naut flagship.

"Fancy teleporter," Mario remarked quietly as he and Luigi stepped off the glowing white teleporter panel onto the smooth steel floor.

The interior of Grodus's flagship was a technological marvel. Before the two was a sliding metal airlock, cleverly designed to open and close in the shape of an _X._ Behind them, to the left of the teleporter, was a large semicircular control panel covered with a dizzying array of monitors, gauges, dials, switches, and levers—apparently the controlling mechanisms for the teleporter. The light in this room and throughout the ship was supplied by long fluorescent light fixtures embedded in the ceilings.

The steel floor clanked quietly under Mario's feet as he warily moved up to the airlock. He hugged the wall next to the door and cast a furtive eye around the teleporter room. No X-Nauts were in view. Satisfied that he and Luigi were alone for the moment, he stepped in front of the airlock. Immediately it opened as it sensed his presence, revealing the X shape as its four triangular pieces split apart to admit him into the main hall.

"Gaack ack ack ack ack!"

Immediately Mario and Luigi ducked out of sight around the corner of the door frame as Sir Grodus himself emerged from a door on the right side of the hallway before them, disappearing just as quickly through another door on the left. The near encounter left Luigi's knees shaking. Mario rapped him lightly on the arm, and he snapped out of his fearful stare and shook his head as if to straighten out his thinking.

"Get ahold of yourself, Luigi. We've got a Ring to find and some X-Nauts to get rid of."

Luigi nodded.

The brothers ventured into the hallway. Not one of the many doors lining its walls opened for them as they passed. All lights over the doors were red, indicating that all were locked for the time being.

"Well, at least no one's gonna come through a locked door," Luigi suggested hopefully.

The light over the door nearest them turned green.

"Scratch that thought," he yelped as he and Mario plastered themselves against the wall beside the door.

A single X-Naut Ph.D. walked distractedly from the door, poring over his clipboard and muttering to himself as he turned away from the brothers and moved off down the hall. He, too, vanished into another room.

Mario quickly yanked Luigi through the automatic door before it closed after the Ph.D. Here, in this room, they were alone once again. Scientific equipment such as test tubes and complex pieces of experimental setups lined the walls. A single table sat in the room's center, holding dozens of glass beakers filled with differently-colored chemicals.

"...ario...sten...me..."

Mario reached into his pocket and pulled out the DTD. "What is it, DT?"

"I know this place, Mario," droned the white metallic disk. "This is Research Lab C. There is usually an X-Naut Ph.D. present in this room at all times—"

The door opened again, and the Ph.D. walked back into the room, still mumbling distractedly to himself. He looked up at Mario and Luigi, and his eyes widened. His clipboard clattered to the floor.

"Hey! What are you two doing in here?!"

Without thinking Mario seized one of the potions on the table and hurled it at the X-Naut scientist. The beaker shattered on the Ph.D.'s white lab coat, drenching him with a green liquid. Suddenly the Ph.D. became huge, towering over Mario and Luigi's heads. Mario gulped.

"Oops. Wrong potion."


	9. Deadly DNA

"Heh," chuckled the now-gigantic X-Naut Ph.D., "looks like you guys need to watch where you throw things!"

"Really?" Mario seized another green potion. "Let's even out the odds, shall we?" Without hesitating he emptied the beaker's contents over his head. In less than a second he was even taller than his enemy.

"Yikes!" yelped the scientist. "Help!"

Luigi grabbed a yellow potion and chucked it at the X-Naut. Instantly he reverted to normal size.

"Thanks!" hollered the scientist, bolting for the door. "Now I can fit out the door and get away from—"

_SPLAT_

Mario lifted his shoe. "Yuck. Squished X-Naut. Got another yellow over there, Luigi?"

Luigi promptly returned Mario to standard height.

Curious, Mario pulled the scientist's lab coat from the puddle of goo that was once an X-Naut Ph.D. and probed the pockets. He pulled out a key card. "Well, lookie here! A master key!"

"Opens any door?" Luigi questioned eagerly, leaning over to have a look for himself.

Mario tapped the marker-applied words _Master Key_ written on one face of the card. "Apparently someone's a bit of an absent-minded professor." He led the way out of the research lab and back into the main hall of the flying saucer. The brothers immediately tested the card by swiping it through the card reader on the door across the hall. The light over the door promptly switch from red to green, indicating that it had been unlocked. Mario grinned at Luigi as he waved his hand at the motion sensor. The door parted in its _X_ shape to admit them.

The room beyond was gargantuan in proportions. It was wide, circular in shape, with a steel floor and a thirty-foot ceiling. All around the cavernous room's walls were dozens of complex control panels similar to those in the teleporter room. The air was punctuated with beeping, whirring, clicking, and all manner of electronic noise, indicating that the computers were hard at work.

"Looks like the central control room for Grodus's ship," Luigi whispered, "and the power plant, too. Just look at the size of that thing!" He pointed to the room's most glaringly-obvious feature—a towering cylindrical force field in the center of the room. In the midst of the blue energy field hung a large green crystal as big as a tree trunk. The fluctuating brightness of the field seemed to indicate that the ship was drawing energy away from the giant crystal. Mario studied it for a moment.

"If we take that thing out, this whole ship should lose power and crash," he finally said aloud. "Should we, or shouldn't we?"

"Don't even try it," answered a familiar voice from behind him. "The force field is impenetrable."

Mario and Luigi whirled around. Mario's fists tightened.

"Grodus!"

The X-Naut leader cackled insanely. "Gaack ack ack ack ack! So we meet again, Mario! And I see you've brought your weakling brother along to keep you company. That_ is_ all he's good for, is it not?" he finished with a maniacal grin.

"Don't you dare insult my brother!" Mario shot back heatedly.

Luigi, heartened by Mario's staunch defense, glared back at Grodus himself. Then his eye fell on the X-Naut's gloved hand. An orange sparkle dazzled his eyes.

"Bro, he's got the second Ring!"

"Yes—correct!" Grodus cackled. "Her Imperial Highness entrusted this Rainbow Ring to my care!" He gloated over the orange gem on his right middle finger.

Mario snatched at the Ring, but Grodus jerked his hand back, holding out his golden staff to block Mario's advance. "Not so fast, Mario. I have a score to settle with you for last time, the time you thwarted the plan to resurrect the glorious Shadow Queen." Grodus withdrew a few feet from the brothers and raised his staff with both hands. The bluish orb atop the staff seemed to suck in energy from the surroundings as gyrating blue rings converged on it. No sooner was the charge-up complete than Grodus unleashed a time freeze on Mario and Luigi, completely immobilizing them.

"Gaack ack ack!" Grodus cackled again. "Now, FEEL MY POWER!"

As Mario and Luigi hung frozen in time, Grodus unleashed a wave of blue flames from his staff. The blaze bowled the brothers over, scorching their clothes and skin. "What's the matter?" Grodus taunted. "Can't you fight back?"

The time-freezing spell wore off, and Mario and Luigi sprang to their feet and split up, attacking Grodus from opposite directions. Fireballs flew thick and fast as they bombarded the X-Naut leader. Again Grodus cast his time-stopping spell, suspending the flames in mid-air. Now direct attack was impossible with fire nearly surrounding Grodus.

"It's no good!" Luigi cried as he attempted to find a way through the frozen fireballs to attack Grodus directly. "Long-range or short-range, he's blocking it all!"

"If we can't get him from the ground," Mario shouted back, "then do it from the air! Super Jump, bro!" he yelled, keeping Grodus busy with a steady barrage of fireballs.

Luigi took the hint, backed away from the fight, and crouched, storing up his energy until he pulsed with light. Then he suddenly sprang into the air, his cap nearly brushing the thirty-foot ceiling, and came down squarely on Grodus's computerized helmet, cracking its glass and nearly crushing Grodus himself. Grodus stumbled backward and fell under the force of the impact. Luigi rebounded from Grodus's head and landed beside Mario again.

"Gaack...ack...ack..." Grodus wheezed. He got to his feet unsteadily. "It appears I underestimated you, Luigi. No matter. I will crush both of you with ease!"

Suddenly four green X-shaped creatures flew out from beneath Grodus's black cloak and positioned themselves around their master. As they did, a green energy shield formed around Grodus.

"Try hurting me now!" challenged Grodus. "With my four Grodus X's, I am completely invincible!"

"Then—allow me!" Mario retorted, running forward and leaping onto one of the Grodus X's, stomping it into oblivion. With one X missing, Grodus's barrier immediately disintegrated. Mario took the opportunity to send Grodus and his little green satellites flying into the power core with a well-placed Smash Attack. Grodus's back struck the force field around the core, and he fell onto his face.

As Grodus picked himself up off the floor, his three remaining Grodus X's shot forward with machine-gun rapidity and pummeled Mario backward, then returned to orbiting Grodus. With difficulty Mario remained on his feet.

"You cannot escape me!" Grodus cackled. "It appears that I will have the pleasure of delivering you both to the Empress!"

"Not interested, thanks," Mario informed him while dealing a killing punch to Grodus's head, dazing him. The remaining Grodus X's vanished.

"You don't have much choice!" Grodus exclaimed once he had recovered from the blow. He lifted his right hand high, and the orange Rainbow Ring on his middle finger glowed brilliantly. "I will force you to bow to the Empress! Behold the might of the Topaz Ring!"

"Uh-oh..." Luigi gulped.

As Grodus activated the Topaz Ring, he suddenly grew to tremendous proportions, towering over the Mario Bros. as the Ph.D. had before. Only this time, no potion would have brought him back to normal size. The Rainbow Ring was powering this transformation.

The X-Naut leader boomed out a laugh at the startled looks on the brothers' faces and swung his now-massive staff at them. Mario and Luigi dived out of the way, and the blue orb atop the staff left a huge dent in the steel floor.

"Gaack ack ack!" laughed Grodus. "Insignificant little pests! Allow me to crush you like the insects you are!"

Luigi tried the Super Jump again, but one swipe of Grodus's giant right hand sent him completely across the room, bashing his head against the steel wall. He fell twenty feet, struck the floor violently, and lay still.

"Luigi!" Mario cried. He glared at Grodus and balled up his fists. "Don't you _ever_ hurt my brother again, you X-Naut creep!"

"It seems I have the upper hand now, Mario," Grodus said with a maniacal grin. "Try this!" He struck his staff toward Mario, and a giant bolt of lightning shot from its tip, striking Mario with terrible force. The plumber spun under the strike.

"Ungh!" Mario dropped to his hands and knees in pain.

"Gaack ack ack! Looks like you've lost this time, Mario!" Grodus grinned. "But just to make sure you don't try anything foolish—Soldiers! Bring in the prisoner!"

Five X-Nauts entered the room from behind Sir Grodus, leading a young lady in their midst. She had striking purple hair and wore a rainbow-hued robe. Her face was bruised and swollen, and her hands were tied so tightly that she winced with every step.

Mario gasped. "Amethyst!"

"Yes, the Rainbow Guardian who managed to escape the Great One's fortress," affirmed Grodus, still grinning.

Amethyst looked at Mario in desperation. "I'm sorry, Mario, but there were just too many of them! I couldn't fight all of them at once..."

Grodus watched Mario in satisfaction as the plumber stared at Amethyst. He cackled again. "Gaack ack ack! No matter which way you look at it, Mario—

"—It's checkmate!"

Mario looked at the gigantic Grodus, then at the unconscious Luigi, then back at the captive Amethyst. "I— I—"

"Surrender, Mario." Grodus's voice interrupted him. "Surrender or Amethyst dies!"

Amethyst gasped. "Mario!"

A bewildered look came over Mario's face. _What now? If I attack, he'll kill Amethyst! If I surrender, there's no hope for Peach! Either way—I lose!_

"I demand an answer!" shouted the X-Naut leader, stomping his foot and making the entire room shake.

As Mario stood in indecision before his gargantuan foe, a white blur suddenly leaped over Grodus's shoulder, snatched the Topaz Ring from his right middle finger, dropped to the floor, and scurried behind the power core and out of sight. Sir Grodus obviously _had_ to notice this.

"The Topaz Ring! No!" he cried as he shrank back to his normal size. Mario was on him in an instant, slamming into him like a pile driver and crushing him against the core's force field. A punch to the head rendered Grodus temporarily stunned, and Mario backed off, having made his point.

"I won't surrender, and you won't touch Amethyst again!"

Grodus stumbled to his feet and pulled a white disk from beneath his black cape. "I'll leave you for now, Mario, but rest assured—I will have my revenge on you yet! You won't escape the Great One forever!" He entered a passcode on the underside of his DTD, and a black portal opened up in front of him. He leaped through it, and it closed before Mario could reach it. The X-Nauts surrounding Amethyst took one look at Mario and ran, leaving their captive standing there with her hands still tied behind her back. She looked around, bewildered.

Mario attempted to untie Amethyst's hands, to no avail. The knot was cinched far too tightly for his fingers to loosen it. "Grrr... Come on!" he growled at the uncooperative ropes, tugging at them in a vain attempt to undo them.

Luigi stumbled to his feet, rubbing the knot on his head. "Let me try, bro." His fingers also failed to find a weak point in the knot.

"You know, my little cheese-hunk, there's a much easier way to do that," came a sly feminine voice from behind the power core.

Mario's head snapped up. "Huh? Who said that?"

No sooner had he asked the question than that mysterious white blur vaulted over his head and landed behind him. he whirled around to see a familiar white mouse with a heart-shaped kink in her tail, red high-heeled shoes, and glittery red glasses. She winked at Mario and smiled seductively.

Mario's eyes widened. "Ms. Mowz? What on earth are _you_ doing here?!"

The white mouse slipped up to Mario's side. "Just watch, Mr. Cutie." She immediately began gnawing away at Amethyst's ropes and had them severed in seconds. Amethyst winced as the blood pounded back into her wrists and hands, and she massaged them until the pain subsided.

"See?" Ms. Mowz said with another wink at Mario.

"Exactly who are you, ma'am?" Amethyst asked cautiously.

Ms. Mowz performed a backflip and assumed her stylish pose. "I'm Ms. Mowz, globe-trotting thief extraordinaire! And who might _you _be, dahling?"

"I'm Amethyst, seventh Guardian of the Rainbow," replied Amethyst, somewhat annoyed by Ms. Mowz's continued attitude.

"Guardian of the Rainbow?" queried Ms. Mowz, eyes sparkling. "Sounds intriguing, dearie!" She held up the Topaz Ring. "I've got what I came for, and my, is it a beauty! Now I just have to set the self-destruct to erase all evidence!"

Mario stepped in front of her as she started toward the control panel. "Ms. Mowz, I need that Ring!"

"Really?" The mouse thief looked surprised. "And why might that be, hm?"

"Because Princess Peach is in danger and those Rings are the only thing that can get me to her!"

Ms. Mowz took on a sympathetic look. "That poor girl. I still remember when the Shadow Queen took over her body. I've felt sorry for her ever since."

"Then can I have the Ring?"

"No."

"But Ms. Mowz—"

"No." Ms. Mowz's eyes twinkled. "You can have the Ring and me, too." She handed Mario the Topaz Ring. "I'm coming with you, my little hunk of cheddar. You usually lead me to all sorts of intriguing places just absolutely loaded with priceless treasure."

Mario was rather surprised. "Uh...OK, I guess." He pulled the DTD from his pocket and fitted the Topaz Ring's gem into the depression on top of the device. A glowing yellow portal opened in front of him.

"To Yellow Dimension," droned DT.

"Wait one second, Cutie," Ms. Mowz requested as she vaulted over to the control panel and punched a command into the keyboard. Sirens started wailing throughout the saucer.

"Self-destruct's set, and we're ready to leave now," she announced with a smile. "Let's-a go!"

"Hey, that's my line!" Mario objected as he disappeared through the portal.

No sooner had the portal closed behind the group than Grodus's proud X-Naut saucer exploded in a colossal fireball. The invasion of Toad Town was over.

* * *

"Amber?" asked Ruby weakly for what seemed the hundredth time. It had been hours since Cyanara had sucked Amber's energy from her, and still the second Guardian had not regained consciousness.

"Amber?"

There was still no answer. Ruby tossed feverishly on the stone floor. The pervasive evil in the fortress was still causing her mental pain, a pain she'd suffered with for the past two days. She groaned.

"...Amber?"

Amber stirred. "Is...is that you...Ruby?"

"Yes," replied Ruby hoarsely. "Wake up!"

Slowly Amber pushed herself into a sitting position against the dank stone wall of the tiny confinement cell. "What...happened?" she asked, rubbing her aching head.

"Cyanara...she sucked your energy from you..." murmured Ruby. "I was so worried...about you... Are...are you OK?"

"I feel...powerless..." Amber slowly replied, her senses returning to her. "It's like there's no strength left in me."

"Oh, Amber..." groaned Ruby.

For the first time Amber noticed Ruby's weakness. She moved closer to her sister and knelt beside her, stroking her forehead gently. "It's OK, Ruby," she said softly. "You'll be fine. You can pull through this. Just...just focus on getting stronger, OK?"

"It's not...that...simple..." Ruby struggled to hold her head up so she could speak more clearly. "This...is the same thing that happened to me...last time we came here...remember?"

Amber slowly nodded, recalling Ruby's previous experience with the evil presence saturating the fortress interior. "It's hurting your mind again?"

"Right..." Ruby coughed weakly. "It's slowly...overpowering me..." She turned restlessly on the floor. "I can't...hold out forever...against it... Eventually...it will kill me..."

Amber clutched Ruby's hand, tears coming to her eyes. She had no words. All she could do was embrace her sister and cry.

* * *

"Do you mean to tell me that Mario bested you _again?_" shouted Cyanara.

Sir Grodus hung his head. "He now has the Topaz Ring as well, Great One."

The Empress smashed her fist into Grodus's helmet, knocking him to the throne room floor. "Worthless coward! Now that pesky little plumber is in Yellow Dimension. In two days he has traversed three dimensions! At this rate, he'll be here in no time!" She seethed in rage. "Get out of my sight!"

Grodus got to his feet and hurriedly left the throne room.

The Empress smiled to herself, her rage vanishing as if it had never existed. "Everything is going according to plan," she congratulated herself. "The poor fools think they're trying to stop Mario, when in reality they're just the lead that's pulling Mario in, drawing him closer until I can get my hands on him!" She gazed at the black eighth Rainbow Ring on her left index finger with a crafty expression on her face. "He thinks he has to collect the Rainbow Rings in order to get to Peach, and that's what he's doing. I'm just giving him a little challenge along the way by sending in incompetent imbeciles like Sir Grodus."

The throne room doors burst open, and in rushed Ray. "Master, we are ready to run the final experiment. You instructed me to inform you when preparations were complete."

"Excellent," Cyanara replied, rubbing her hands together in anticipation as she rose from her throne. "Let's do it. I'll have the guards bring little sister to the laboratory. Go on ahead." Ray quickly dashed back to the lab, and Cyanara went straight to Peach's holding room.

Peach started as Cyanara walked into the room. "What do you want now?" she asked tremblingly.

The Empress advanced directly toward Peach. "I want _you._ Guards!"

Two red-tunicked Paroidians burst into the room and seized the Princess.

"Take her to the laboratory immediately!"

Peach's face went white. "N-No! Not the laboratory again! Cyanara, _please!_ Nooo!!" The guards dragged her from the room, and Cyanara followed, an evil smile spreading across her face.

Inside the laboratory, the guards forced Peach onto the steel examination table and clamped her down despite her struggles. Cyanara bent over her sister as the guards left. She smiled.

"Cyanara, please!" Peach pleaded. "Don't torment me like you did the last time you brought me here!"

Ray picked up a large syringe filled with purple liquid and handed it to the Empress. Peach caught her breath. "What are you _doing _with me?!"

Suddenly Cyanara pretended to jab the needle into Peach's arm. Peach instantly tensed and turned away from the expected stab, but nothing happened. Cyanara laughed at Peach's fright.

Peach let out the breath she'd been holding. "D-Don't do that," she quavered.

"Just think of this as a minor medical experiment, Peach," Cyanara said none too reassuringly. She rolled Peach's right glove down to the elbow and rubbed alcohol onto her sister's exposed skin with a cotton swab.

"Then what's in that syringe?" Peach asked, now thoroughly frightened. "...Or do I want to know?"

"This, little sister," Cyanara answered, holding up the loaded syringe, "is the same chemical I injected Toadsworth with." She smiled her cunning smile. "And you know what _that_ means." She lowered the needle toward Peach's arm.

Peach gasped and shivered violently. "N-No, Cyanara! Don't do this!"

The needle touched her arm and stopped. Cyanara held it there for a moment, letting Peach feel the slight pressure of the needle on her arm. "Normally, Peach, I wouldn't even think of injecting my own sister with a substance like this." The Empress straightened and took firm hold of the syringe, and Peach's face registered desperate terror.

"But Peach—this isn't exactly a _normal_ situation, is it?"

The next instant Cyanara forced the needle into Peach's tense upper arm. Peach gritted her teeth against the pain as her sister pushed down on the syringe, injecting the deadly solution of Shroob DNA into her bloodstream. Cyanara then withdrew the needle. The whole process had taken less than ten seconds.

"Master," Ray informed her, "the solution will take longer to work in a living subject. Her immune system will attempt to destroy the foreign DNA."

"Then we'll just have to wait, won't we?" replied Cyanara matter-of-factly as she pulled up a chair and sat down beside Peach to watch.

Within minutes Peach was thoroughly sick to her stomach as she lay strapped to the exam table. Involuntary shivers shook her frequently, and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead. Her breathing was erratic and punctuated with coughing. "Cyanara...why? Why are you...doing this...to me?" she managed.

"Why?" Cyanara repeated, smiling her cunning smile. "It's a long story, Peach, and quite frankly I don't think you've got enough time to hear it. Once that DNA solution does its work, you won't even _care _why."

"Tell me..." Peach insisted, breaking into another coughing spasm.

Cyanara leaned back in her chair. "Very well, then. Listen closely." The Empress shut her eyes with a smile as she allowed her mind to take her back into the past, to that fateful day over eleven years ago...

_I watched in amazement as the baby Koopa before me literally transformed into a prehistoric menace, complete with spiny green shell, vicious canine teeth, a mop of fiery-orange hair, and glittering claws on its hands and feet. Hesitantly I picked up the Koopa infant and held it up to examine it. Suddenly a name struck me._

_"I'll call you Bowser."_

_The little dinosaur gave a high-pitched half-roar and swiped at my face. I ducked._

_"Ray, give this little fellow the data transfer."_

_My assistant took the mutant creature and carried it to the other side of the laboratory, where he fitted a complex electronic helmet on the dino's head and fed data into his brain. After he had finished he returned Bowser to me. "He is ready, Master."_

_I set the baby Koopa on the steel examination table. Immediately he tried to dent it with his scaly fist. He was unsuccessful._

_"Bowser."_

_Baby Bowser looked up at me and sneered._

_"Do you know me?"_

_"You're the Great One, the boss," was the prompt, mischievous-sounding response._

_"Exactly," I replied, pleased with his answer. "And do you know what I want you to do for me?"_

_"Yeah," Bowser replied in his nasal child's voice. (Later I would discover that his son's voice was nearly identical to his own youthful tone.) "You're gonna send me back in time so I can kidnap that little Princess Peach, so_ you _can be queen of the Mushroom Kingdom." He rubbed his little hands together in glee. "I like it!"_

_I laughed. "Bowser, I like you already." I turned to Ray. "Warm up the time machine."_

_Ray immediately complied, entering a series of commands into the lab's main computer. Soon a low hum pervaded the room as the black spherical machine went online. Picking up Bowser, I carried him to the time machine, placed him inside, and sealed the door shut._

_"The machine is programmed to return to our time after young Bowser leaves it," Ray informed me, monitoring the machine's status on the computer screen._

_I looked through the machine's window. "Remember, Bowser—you're the King of the Koopas. You're stronger than any of them. I made you that way. You'll grow to full size in just a few days, thanks to my genetic enhancements. After you do...don't forget your mission."_

_He grinned. "Gotcha!" There was a flash of light, and the time machine vanished into the past._

_"Tracking the machine's progress on the monitor now, Master," spoke up Ray, studying the screen intently. "...Perfect. It's stopped right on schedule—August 13, 1994, 6 AM. Right on schedule," he repeated. A minute later the time machine flashed back into the room. It was empty._

_"Go, Bowser," I whispered with a smile. "Go and make sure my little sister _never_ gets the throne that rightfully belongs to me!"_

"That explains...nothing..." Peach interrupted as she lay strapped to the table. A coughing fit followed her feeble attempt at speech. "Why...revive...the Shroobs? They...are a threat...to all of us...including you!"

"A threat to _me?_" Cyanara laughed and snapped her fingers. The laboratory door swung open, and in walked Shroobsworth, bearing a tray with a tall glass of iced lemonade on it. Cyanara took the glass and drank deeply as the mutant steward left the room with the empty tray.

The Empress set the glass down with a sigh of satisfaction. "See what I mean? The Shroobs are no threat to me. But that's what I was about to explain. So listen. A mere day after I sent Baby Bowser back in time..."

_"Confound that Bowser!" I exclaimed as I sat on my silver throne. "I gave him a whole_ year _to get Peach out of the picture, and _what _has he been doing? Chasing that pathetic plumber Mario around. Now he's sitting in his own castle doing absolutely nothing. All this time he's never been able to keep his claws on Peach long enough to get her back to me!" I rose from my throne in a rage._

_Suddenly they were there. They came to _my fortress _first. It was one of those fateful accidents that happen every so often to someone's benefit—in this case, mine. There were thousands of them. They swarmed through the halls of the fortress as if searching. They knew I was there. And they wanted me._

_Somehow I managed to slip through the maze of hallways unnoticed by the invaders and hid in the core control room. Acting on impulse, I booted up the computer and ran the prototype language translation program. It recorded the sounds of the alien tongue from the audio sensors in the halls and instantly analyzed and decrypted their speech. I could understand every word they were saying. And if I could understand them, why not they me?_

_So I tried. In my friendliest voice I told them that I did not know why they had come but was willing to receive them peacefully. Breathlessly I waited for a response._

_A knock came at the door of the control room. A knock! After pillaging and plundering my fortress—a knock from the invaders! I didn't know what to make of it. Were they being genuinely courteous—or cunningly deceptive? There was only one way to find out._

_I pushed the button to open the door._

_And in they came. The twin princesses of the Shroob aliens, dressed in their crimson regalia and matching white crowns. Somewhat shakily I motioned for them to have a seat. The translator program would do our interpreting._

_The conversation took a surprisingly peaceful tack. All the aliens wanted was a new home, as their homeworld was dying and devoid of resources. A germ of an idea began to grow in my mind._

_Your army...my kingdom...your army for my kingdom..._

_It worked. Shockingly, the proposal went unchallenged. I was given total control over the Shroob armada in exchange for one thing—land. Once I had conquered the Mushroom Kingdom and regained my throne, the Shroobs would be allowed to live anywhere they wished without interference. Of course, the current residents of the Mushroom Kingdom would have to be...disposed of. Such a caveat was not in the least objectionable to either me or my "guests." Then it was that I revealed the greatest part of the plan—sending the army back in time to get rid of my troublesome younger sister. With her out of the way, the Shroobs would have complete and total control over the land._

"Wait..." Peach put in weakly. "The Shroobs...appearing in the past Mushroom Kingdom...that was your fault..."

Cyanara smiled again. "Now you're getting the picture, Peach. The whole invasion was an elaborate plan designed to keep you from ever reaching adulthood. Unfortunately that meddling Elvin Gadd developed his _own_ time machine. Actually, that little development almost made things easy for me. I heard from the younger Princess Shroob that your adult self had been captured in the past Mushroom Kingdom, and I quickly made arrangements for you to be transported back to me." Her face turned ugly. "But then," she spat, "those pesky Mario Bros. teamed up with their baby selves and destroyed both Shroob princesses. When I heard you'd been rescued I was outraged. And to make matters worse, Bowser went back in time as well, met his younger self, figured out what I'd made him for, and rebelled against me. He wanted to have you for himself." Cyanara nodded. "So it's all come down to this, Peach. I was behind every major attack on the Mushroom Kingdom from the day I was banished." Her eyes glittered evilly. "And today's the day I settle the score."

Suddenly Peach cried out in pain. "Aaagh! What—What's happening to me?!"

"The DNA solution is taking effect," Cyanara informed her cruelly. "Look at your arm, Peach."

Peach looked over at her right arm and stared at it in horror as it began to turn purple. Her right hand became a two-fingered, steel-clawed pincer just as Toadsworth's had. She gasped.

"C-Cyanara! Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!!"

"I can't, Peach," Cyanara replied with a smile as she watched the transformation slowly devour the Princess. She leaned over her sibling, eyes aglow.

"I've turned you into a Shroob. _Princess_ Shroob."


	10. Yellow Dimension

When Mario leaped through the portal to Yellow Dimension, he felt as if he'd smacked face-first into a lake. The sea immediately surrounded him, dragging him down, and he gagged on a mouthful of saltwater. He flailed about in the water for a moment, then looked up and saw the surface far above him. Immediately he began swimming upward for all he was worth. Soon his head broke the surface, and he gasped for air. Luigi, Amethyst, and Ms. Mowz bobbed up near him momentarily.

Luigi emptied his hat of water. "Man, who would have guessed the next portal would open underwater?"

"At least we're not far from land," Ms. Mowz pointed out. "Let's get ashore and dry ourselves off, shall we?"

Mario looked toward the sandy beach about two hundred feet away. He shrugged. "We don't have much choice, do we?"

The four began swimming toward the shoreline. When, after several minutes of exertion, they made it through the pounding surf to the inviting beach before them, they gratefully dragged themselves from the water and collapsed in the sand, weary from their unexpected swim. The sun was beginning to dip beneath the horizon, casting a reddish hue over the sands.

"Ahhh," sighed Amethyst as she lay with her cheek on the warm sand.

Ms. Mowz dumped the water out of her shoes and dried her glasses off. "Such trivial things, glasses," she commented, half-frustrated, "but they certainly get to be a chore."

After resting for a few minutes, the group reluctantly left the shore and climbed a sandy ridge behind the beach. At the top of the little rise was a small village composed of round wooden huts, roofs thatched with dune grass. The village paths were all of sand, and palm trees grew in and around the area in abundance. It was a very peaceful place—but when they entered the village, it was strangely deserted.

"Huh," Mario said aloud after peering into several huts. "Looks like we have the place all to ourselves."

"What more could we ask for?" put in Luigi. "Our own private beachfront resort!"

The others laughed. "When you put it _that_ way, Luigi," chuckled Mario, "this doesn't seem so bad!"

Within a few minutes each party member had chosen a hut for himself. Mario entered "his" abode and found a bed of rushes on the floor. He tried it and found it rather comfy. There were no other furnishings in the place. Standing to his feet, he looked out the glassless window toward the beach. There he saw Amethyst standing on the sand near the shoreline, gazing into the sunset. He watched her for a moment.

"Must be she's worried about Athos," Mario said to himself at last. "To tell the truth, I'm a little worried myself. Hope he's OK. And Peach..." A tear rolled down his cheek, and he brushed it away. Leaving the window, he lay back down on his bed of rushes and was soon fast asleep.

* * *

"Take your foul hands off me, you fiends!" shouted Athos as the two Paroidian Guards dragged him out of the dungeon cell.

Cyanara smiled at his cry. "Your impudence amuses me, Athos. Take him to Sir Grodus. He'll know what I want done with Athos." The guards complied, and Cyanara remained outside the cell, gazing 

through the wall of iron bars that separated her from her captives. Her penetrating black eyes roved over her prisoners.

A moan rose over the low whisper of conversation in the cell. Toadette lay curled in a ball on the cold stone floor, trying desperately to keep warm. Her brother Toad tried to ease her discomfort, to no avail. The others weren't faring much better. Swiff T., Tace T., Russ T. and his family, Sir Poyn T. of the royal archers, and others of the castle staff all sat huddled together for warmth in the chilly cell. Hardshell sat alone in a corner, taking the cold without complaint.

"How long will you keep us in here?" Toad finally burst out, looking desperately at the Empress. "We can't take this forever!"

"I'll keep you as long as I need you," Cyanara replied evenly, "however long that may be. You'll just have to learn patience, won't you?" She laughed and swept out of the dungeons.

* * *

Mario yawned and rolled over. The sun streaming through the window of his humble wooden hut reached his eyes as he turned over, and he instinctively shielded his eyes with his hand. Squinting in the brightness, Mario groaned and sat up on the floor. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes to drive the sleep from them.

"Eight o'clock," he mumbled groggily as he consulted his watch. "Why do I sleep in like this when I need to get moving?"

He got to his feet and went to the window to look out over the beach. The early morning fog had burned off in the sun only minutes ago, allowing Mario to see for miles as he gazed out over the endless water. The waves lapped gently at the beach, much unlike the rough surf of yesterday. Occasionally he heard a seagull give its shrill cry. It was a picture of serenity.

Mario stepped out of his hut. Luigi, Amethyst, and Ms. Mowz were already sitting in the village center around the firepit, waiting for him. He walked up to the group and sat on the sand next to them.

"What now, bro?" asked Luigi.

Mario was silent for a moment. "You know, I really have no clue," he confessed. "There's no one here to tell us where we are, let alone where to go from here."

"Clues can be found in some strange places, Mr. Cutie," said Ms. Mowz with a wink. "Take a look around the village, why don't you?"

"Nothing else to do," Mario replied with a shrug, getting back to his feet. "Why don't we all have a look around and see if what we find?"

The four split up and began searching the village one hut after another. It wasn't long before Amethyst dashed out of one of them crying "I found it!" Immediately the others clustered around her as she unfolded what appeared to be an old map.

"It's a map of the surrounding area," Amethyst explained. "This is the beach right here." Her finger pointed to a strip of sand drawn on the parchment.

"Then this," Luigi broke in, tracing the route with his finger, "would be the way we came up to the village from the beach. That puts us right _here._" His finger rested on a cluster of hand-drawn huts.

"It's called Seaside Village," Mario said, squinting at the tiny lettering on the map.

"Appropriate," Ms. Mowz commented.

"Hmmm..." Amethyst frowned. "There's no path leading out of this place. There are none on the map, anyway. Wonder where everyone went?"

"Its just too weird," Mario agreed. "There aren't any bodies anywhere, so they didn't die of disease or war. It's as if they just packed up and left, but to where? And more importantly, why?"

The ground began to shake beneath their feet.

"Uh, Mario," Luigi gulped, "did you _really_ want the answer to that question?"

Suddenly the wooden huts ripped themselves from the ground, standing upright on their foundation posts. They began stalking the group like mindless zombies.

"What the—" Mario backed away from the bizarre sight, unsure of what to do.

"YIIIIIIIIKES!!"

"Luigi, quiet!" barked Mario. "We don't have time for dramatics!"

Amethyst shrank back behind the brothers. Ms. Mowz took her hand and put on her brave face. "Back, you savage...buildings!" The mouse's eyes glinted fiercely. "Don't you touch us!"

The huts paid no attention to the demand and continued their advance.

"Well, this certainly explains why everyone left the village," Mario said with a gulp. "Uh...run?"

* * *

"Her heart rate has stabilized," said Medic Guy quietly as the now-steady beeping of the heart monitor continued in the background, "but she's still in a coma. I don't understand it." He frowned in puzzlement at the unconscious Daisy lying on the hospital bed.

"Everything's normal?" queried Shyga.

Medic Guy nodded. "Everything...except for the fact that she won't respond to anything."

"Shyga?"

The blue-suited female Shy Guy turned to see Aster peeking around the half-open door of the infirmary room.

"Yes, little Highness?"

"I want to see Daisy..." The little seven-year-old brushed a tear away.

Shyga went softly to the door and led Aster inside, seating the little princess in a velvet chair beside Daisy's bed. Aster immediately leaned over Daisy and began softly stroking her big sister's forehead.

"Daisy? ...Can you hear me? Daisy?"

Silently Shyga and Medic Guy watched as Aster caressed her sister. "Sisterly love," Shyga finally commented in a soft voice. "Aster really shows it. She was heartbroken when she lost Daisy before. I hope she won't have to go through that again." She looked meaningfully at the doctor.

Medic Guy nodded and sighed. "Pray it doesn't come to that."

Daisy stirred and moaned. "Unhhhh... Unhhhh..."

Instantly Medic Guy was on the move. "She's coming out of it," he said hastily, striding to the intercom panel. He punched the call button. "Get the nurses to Daisy's infirmary room. She's gaining consciousness!"

Shyga removed the startled Aster from the bedside while Medic Guy attempted to get Daisy to respond to him. "Princess, can you hear me?" he asked anxiously. "Princess, if you can hear me, say something. Say something!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Daisy bolted upright with a gasp. "PEACH!!"

Immediately the doctor tried to calm her, firmly pushing her back into a prone position. "It's all right, Your Highness, it's all right. Just calm down."

Daisy's breathing was ragged and gasping. The Shy Guy nurses rushed in and succeeded in forcing Daisy to lie down again, but her breathing remained sporadic and her frightened eyes flitted wildly about the room.

"P-P-Peach!"

"Shhh," Medic Guy instructed her while ordering a dose of sedative. "Princess, everything's fine."

"Then where's Peach?" she asked, still terrified.

"She's safe in her castle, Your Highness," Shyga informed her gently.

Daisy shook her head, eyes still wild. "No, she's not! I saw her!" she gasped out. "The Great One attacked her and turned her into something awful! She's in trouble!"

One of the nurses handed Medic Guy a syringe. Daisy's face went white, and her eyes widened in terror. "NO! DON'T PUT THAT STUFF IN ME! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED TO PEACH!!"

"Hold her down," commanded Medic Guy. The nurses teamed up on Daisy and forced her to lie still while Medic Guy gently inserted the needle into Daisy's arm and injected the sedative. Daisy screamed in terror as he did so.

"PEACH!!" She tried to sit up again, but the nurses held her down. "I have to help Peach! SHE COULD BE DYING!!"

Aster huddled against Shyga in fright.

"No, Your Highness," said Medic Guy firmly. You're staying here until we're sure you're all right."

"But..." The sedative began to take effect, and Daisy's struggles died out. Her eyelids grew heavy. "But I have...to help...Peach..."

Shyga watched Daisy fall asleep under the effect of the drug. "...What was _that_ all about?" she finally asked, turning to the doctor.

"It sounds to me like she was slightly delusional—wasn't fully conscious and was just blurting out nonsense," he stated simply. "Hallucinations, perhaps. I really don't know."

"What's wrong with Daisy?" asked Aster timidly, still huddled against Shyga.

Shyga looked into Aster's eyes. Even though the little princess was only seven, she was already taller than Shyga and the other Shy Guys in the castle; so Shyga found herself looking up a little to look Aster in the face. "We're not sure, little Highness," she said frankly. "But I think it's breakfast time. Let's go get you some food." She gently but firmly led Aster out of the infirmary toward the dining room.



* * *

Mario, Luigi, Amethyst, and Ms. Mowz raced out of the village and hid in the trees of the forest behind it.

"What in the world was THAT?!" Mario exclaimed, panting for breath as he leaned against a tree.

"D-Demonic m-man-eating huts, t-that's what," quipped Luigi despite chattering teeth. "I-_I'm_ not goin' back in there!"

Amethyst would have spoken, but her eye caught sight of the village again. She pointed. "Look!"

The group stared back at the village. Every hut was mysteriously back in its proper place, as if they'd never moved at all.

"That's odd," commented Ms. Mowz. "Why aren't they still chasing us?"

"I think I know," Mario answered, pointing.

Three pairs of eyes followed Mario's pointing finger past the village to the beach beyond it. On the pristine white sands stood a tall, powerfully-built figure dressed in a white robe. A scarlet cape flowed from his broad shoulders, blowing in the sea breeze. His hood was thrown back from his head, revealing a crop of thick brown hair that ruffled in the wind. And in his right hand he gripped a long white staff tipped with a red gem.

"Who is _that_ hunk of a man?" Ms. Mowz inquired curiously.

Amethyst gasped. "It—It's Takanyar!"

"Yeah," Mario agreed, "but can you see what he's got on his finger?"

Amethyst strained her eyes at the villain's right hand until she saw the sun glint off something shiny on his fourth finger.

"He's got the third Rainbow Ring!"

"Betcha that Ring made those huts come alive like that," Luigi guessed.

"That handsome creature down there can put life into ordinary objects?" Ms. Mowz asked in surprise.

"Sure seems that way," Mario replied. "I'm not one for attacking him just yet. He _must_ know we're here or he wouldn't be standing around waiting like that. It's as if he expects us to come at him. Takanyar's a dangerous one to attack when he's already waiting for you."

"Ho there, travelers!"

The four turned to see an elderly Koopa hobbling up to them. "I see you've found the village unlivable, eh?"

"Um...something like that," Amethyst answered uncertainly.

"It's a shame, really," the Koopa continued, unfazed by Amethyst's hesitance. "One day all those buildings just decided to get up and walk! We were all pretty much scared out of our shells, as you might imagine! So we promptly packed up and left. Our new village is on the other side of that hill over there," he offered, pointing through the trees toward a rise in the distance. "And thankfully those new huts haven't tried to eat us yet," he chuckled. "You're welcome to stay with us for the time being. It's obvious you have nowhere else to go, eh?" The aged Koopa with the graying beard turned and stumbled off into the forest, supporting himself with his cane. "Come on, I'll take you there!"

After a moment or two of uncertain glances, the group hesitantly followed their eccentric guide toward the indicated hill. They were silent for a while until they reached the hill and began to ascend its slope.

"Careful of the cave down there," the Koopa cautioned them, waving his gnarled cane at the rocky opening in the hillside. "There's been landslides above that thing lately. Just don't get too close and you'll be safe."

"I'm not so sure about this guy," Mario confided to Luigi. "He's a little _too_ friendly for my liking..."

"Yeah," Luigi agreed nervously. "Should we keep going?"

The ground beneath their feet rumbled.

"I'll take that as a _no,_" Luigi said with a gulp.

The earth beneath them suddenly gave way entirely, dropping the foursome into a deep pit.

"Uhhhhhhh..." groaned Amethyst as she lay on the dirt at the bottom of the pit. "Ouch..."

"I'm gonna be sore for the next week from that," Luigi moaned, rubbing his bruises.

"Heh heh heh! Look at ya!"

The elderly Koopa stuck his head over the pit's edge and leered at the group. "Aye, ya fell fer that one, didn'tcha? Heh heh!" He gripped his beard and peeled it from his chin, discarding the cane simultaneously. "Won't be needin' this disguise anymore, either!"

Mario shook his fist at their "guide."

"Good work, Kooporo," congratulated another, more familiar voice as Takanyar himself looked over the edge. "You got them."

"Takanyar!" Mario shouted, a challenge in his voice.

Takanyar laughed. "Greetings, Mario. It's so _good_ to see you again, and in such a helpless position, too."

"Let us go, you foolish villain!" Ms. Mowz demanded, eyes flashing.

"Certainly, ma'am, certainly. As soon as Petey is through with all of you, I'll let you go." Takanyar smiled evilly. "Come, Kooporo. We obviously won't be getting any more entertainment from _these_ four." The two left the pit, laughing as only villains can.

Mario felt a vibration in his pocket and pulled out the DTD. "Hm? You buzzed, DT?"

"Mario," droned the machine, "I am detecting a faint tremor beneath the floor of this pit. Be carefu—"

Before DT could finish saying _careful,_ there was an explosion of rock and dirt from the center of the floor, and up from the ground burst none other than Petey Piranha, whose dramatic entry sent Mario flying into the wall of the pit. The giant walking Piranha Plant roared and showed his razor-sharp teeth as the group prepared for a rather unexpected fight.

Petey lost no time in trying to bite Mario. The red-capped plumber sidestepped the oversized Piranha Plant's gaping mouth and socked him in the jaw, making him rear back and roar in pain.

"He's nothing but a big sissy!" Ms. Mowz said indignantly. "I'll teach _him_ a thing or two!" With that the agile little thief leaped right over Petey Piranha and smacked him in the back so hard that he crashed into the stone wall of the pit face-first. Mario and the others quickly dashed away from the immobilized Petey and clustered near Ms. Mowz.

Petey, his face still halfway embedded in the pit wall, gave a muffled roar and pried himself loose. Then he lost his balance and toppled backward, waving his leafy arms helplessly.

"Here I come, you brainless plant!" Mario yelled as he jumped into the air over Petey Piranha. Just as he passed over Petey's stomach, he stopped in mid-air and Ground Pounded onto Petey's tender midsection.

"ROAR!!" bellowed Petey Piranha as Mario dented his tummy in. With one swipe of his leafy left arm he swatted Mario off his abdomen; then, bounding to his scrawny feet, he belched up a river of slimy brown-and-white goop that coated the pit floor.

Amethyst, attempting to rush Petey, slipped in the muck and slid helplessly toward her foe. Petey scooped her up in one leaf and roared out his hot breath right into her face. She clutched at her throat, turned away from Petey, and gagged.

"YUCK! Oh, that is DISGUSTING!!" she choked out. "Try brushing your teeth once in a while, you overgrown weed!"

"ROAR?" Petey Piranha prepared to chomp his captive in two. "ROAR!"

Just before becoming Petey's breakfast, Amethyst transformed her right hand into a flamethrower and shot a jet of red-hot flames down the his throat. The giant Piranha Plant roared in pain as his throat was scorched, and he immediately dropped Amethyst to a slimy landing in the goop below. She immediately scrambled back to her companions as Petey clutched his massive head and moaned in pain.

"Is he done for?" asked Luigi hesitantly.

Petey staggered a little, shook his head violently as if to dislodge a pesky fly, and roared.

"That means _no,_" Mario answered hastily as Petey charged the group. They dove aside, and Petey, unable to slow down because of the slick goo beneath him, slid uncontrollably into the pit wall and knocked himself onto his back again. This time it was Luigi who stomped Petey's stomach. Petey Piranha roared and jumped up, sending Luigi crashing to the slime-covered floor.

"One more time should finish him!" Mario yelled while he dashed to one side, distracting the huge Piranha Plant. Luigi took the cue and ran in the opposite direction. Petey was thoroughly confused now, unable to decide who to attack.

"Time to give this heap of vegetable matter a thorough trouncing!" Amethyst exclaimed, morphing into a conveyor belt that stretched beneath Petey's feet. Petey looked under his feet, completely bewildered.

"ROAR?"

No sooner had he roared than Amethyst's conveyor belt began to run extremely fast, sending an unwilling Petey rushing straight toward the wall of the pit. He opened his mouth wide.

"ROOOOAR!!"

He smashed into the stone wall, pried himself free, and toppled onto his back once more. Amethyst returned to normal and hopped up onto his stomach. Up went one foot.

"Bye bye, Petey!"

Amethyst brought her foot down squarely onto Petey's abdomen. The oversized Piranha Plant roared, coughed up more goop, and exploded, showering Amethyst with slime. She picked herself up off the grimy, slimy floor and shook some of the gunk from her hands. Her entire rainbow robe was covered in goop, her purple hair was saturated with it, and every inch of exposed skin on her had received more than its share of slime. She glared at her startled companions.

"Don't you _dare_ laugh."

Mario put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. "Uh...nice job, Amethyst."

"Wipe that smile off your face!" she exclaimed, pointing her finger at him accusingly.

Mario forced himself to keep a straight face. "Sorry."

Amethyst changed her right hand into a spray nozzle and began cleaning herself off.

"So now that we've dispatched that hideous beast," Ms. Mowz asked, "how are we supposed to get out of here?"

Everyone looked up at the pit's edge, nearly thirty feet above their heads.

"Good point," admitted Luigi.

Amethyst chuckled. "I'm tempted not to take you with me, Mr. Smarty-Pants Mario, when I fly out of here." She eyed the plumber meaningfully.

"Fly?" Mario inquired, curious.

In answer, Amethyst transformed into a hot-air balloon. "Going up?" she asked innocently.

"All aboard!" announced Mario, and he, Luigi, and Ms. Mowz climbed into the balloon's basket. In less than a minute the group was standing on the earth's surface again.

"Time to go Takanyar hunting." Mario eyed the mouth of the cavern Koopor had warned them of. "Betcha he and his weaselly little assistant are hiding out in there."

"Yeah, and here's your proof, bro," Luigi added, bending down to examine the dirt in front of the cave. "Footprints."

Ms. Mowz got down to look at the tracks. "Hmmmm...yes...interesting..."

"What is it?" inquired Mario.

"These footprints are strange," she replied. "There are _three_ sets of prints, not two. And all of them lead inside—none lead out." she hopped back onto her feet and cast a wary eye at the cave. "That Takanyar man and his cohort are in there with someone else."

"Well, we don't have much choice," Mario concluded with a note of finality. "We're goin' in after him. Whoever else is inside—well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Let's go." He led the way into the cave's darkened interior. No sooner had they set foot inside than a tremendous rumbling rocked the entrance, and a cascade of boulders dropped into the mouth of the cave and sealed it shut.

"Looks like they rigged a landslide to trap us in here," Mario remarked grimly. "Nowhere to go now but forward."

"Amethyst, let's have some light," Mario requested.

Immediately Amethyst's right hand became a burning torch. "How's that?"

"Um...I was thinking a bit more...modern?"

Amethyst's hand changed into a floodlight.

"Much better," Mario replied.

The group walked cautiously forward into the cave, Amethyst sweeping her floodlight back and forth at intervals. They appeared to be in a wide tunnel of some kind with beautiful stalactite formations cascading down from the ceiling. Sharp stalagmites protruded from the floor, forcing the group to wend around them as they moved further into the cave. Amethyst's light revealed rivulets of water trickling down the limestone walls in places.

After what seemed an eternity in a never-ending tunnel, the group finally emerged from the passage into a large, high-ceilinged chamber. Amethyst's light barely illuminated the distant ceiling. Gigantic stalagmites, easily fifteen feet tall apiece, dwarfed Mario and his partners as they slowly edged into the eerily-gargantuan room. It seemed a place where a giant would feel at home. The seventh Guardian shone her light here and there, briefly revealing trickles of water everywhere—on the floor, on the walls, running down those towering stalagmites. The only sound was the group's breathing and the occasional _drip_ of dropping water echoing hollowly in the vast cavern.

Suddenly an orange glow attracted Mario's attention. Looking at his right hand, he saw the Topaz Ring glowing brightly. "Takanyar's around," he muttered. "The Ring's sensing another Ring nearby."

Amethyst's light caught a red cape disappearing behind a stalagmite. She caught her breath.

"We know you're in here, Takanyar!" rang out Mario's challenge, shattering the awesome stillness. "You might as well quit trying to hide!" His voice echoed for an eternity.

"Ha ha ha ha!" laughed the unseen Takanyar. "When I _do_ show my face, Mario, it will only be to bludgeon yours—if it even comes to that. I have a little trick up my sleeve that will keep you from ever resisting me. Kooporo!" he shouted. "Show them the prisoner!"

There was a _whoosh_ nearby, and flames shot up from the torch in Kooporo's hand, revealing the wizened face of the traitorous Koopa. He grinned wilily at Mario's party and stepped to one side, allowing the torchlight to illuminate a male figure bound to one of the massive stalagmites. Amethyst gasped and started forward.

"ATHOS!!"

Athos looked up at his fiancée and groaned. "...No...Not this! Amethyst, stay back!"

Amethyst stopped a few paces ahead of Mario and the others, tears in her eyes. "Let me come to you!" she pleaded.

"No!" insisted Athos. "If Takanyar captures you and your Disc, Cyanara will need only the Twilight Disc to complete her power. Once she has all the rainbow objects she will be impossible to defeat! Do not allow yourself to be taken prisoner, even for me!"

"But Athos—" Amethyst began to cry.

"Wise advice, traitor Athos," spoke up Takanyar as he moved into the torch's pool of light. "But unfortunately for you, even the best advice does no good at times like this." He raised his right hand, and the yellow Ring on his fourth finger glowed brilliantly. Immediately the stalagmite to which Athos was bound reached out rocky fingers from its surface, curling around Athos and crushing him mercilessly. Athos cried out in pain as the jagged stone squeezed him ever more tightly.

"Athos! NO!" cried Amethyst, nearly weeping.

"Surrender yourself, Amethyst, and I will spare Athos," demanded Takanyar.

"N-No, Amethyst! Do not—do it!" cried Athos through his teeth as the stalagmite relentlessly crushed him.

Amethyst stood in indecision, face wet with tears as she beheld the torment of her beloved. Her eyes glinted with indignation. Athos saw the look on her face and gasped.

"Amethyst, NO!!"


	11. Shiver Me Shroobs!

Suddenly Amethyst rushed forward, ran right past a surprised Takanyar and Kooporo, and seized Athos in her embrace. Takanyar made the stalagmite release Athos from its crushing grip. He smiled evilly.

Athos, still tied to the stalagmite, could only let Amethyst hug him tightly. "Amethyst, I still love you...but I am afraid you may have doomed us all, dear."

"I don't care," she whispered while shedding her tears on her fiancé's shoulder. "I won't leave you to suffer like that!"

"I thought as much," Takanyar put in, seizing the back of Amethyst's robe and jerking her roughly away from Athos. "Don't worry, Amethyst. I think I can arrange for you two to stay together for a long time—in the Empress's torture chamber, perhaps." His eyes glittered at the thought. "You'll be with this traitor for a long, _long_ time while the Great One slowly sucks the life out of you both."

Amethyst glared defiantly at her captor. "Threaten me all you like, Takanyar, but you won't scare me. I gave myself up for a reason—a reason I wouldn't expect you to understand." She placed her hands behind her back to be tied, still holding her head high in defiance.

Takanyar wrenched the knot on Amethyst's wrists so tight that the rough ropes bit into her fair skin. She winced.

"Love?" he asked half-sarcastically. "Love is only weakness. Strength is found in concealing one's emotions, not unleashing them." He untied Athos from the stalagmite, tied his hands behind his back as he had done with Amethyst, and attached their bound hands to one another with another length of rope. Athos clasped Amethyst's hands as best he could, and she looked sadly into his eyes. Together Takanyar and Kooporo led their captives further back into the cave.

"That's it?" Luigi asked, incredulous. "He takes Amethyst and leaves? What is _with_ him? That's just not Takanyar!"

"I know," agreed Mario quietly. "But we can't just let him get away with her. If we can save those two we can keep the Amethyst Disc out of Cyanara's hands. Let's go!" Mario dashed forward after Takanyar, Luigi and Ms. Mowz following close behind him. They crossed the huge chamber and entered another stone tunnel.

"You know," Luigi began, panting during his run, "I don't like these long tunnels that lead who-knows-where. You can't tell what you're going to see at the end, and it's scary."

Suddenly they left the tunnel and screeched to a halt. The room they now stood in was more of a normal size. The ten-foot, stalactite-encrusted ceiling gave the appearance of a large mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. Several blazing torches were mounted on the walls, their crackling flames casting an eerie glow over the room as the shadows danced in the flickering light. Luigi edged closer to Mario.

"See? It's...creepy."

Mario sighed. Luigi still hadn't gotten over his fear of the dark, and the surrealism created by the dim torchlight only made things worse. "Pull yourself together, Luigi. Now where's Takanyar?"

"Over there," whispered Ms. Mowz, pointing across the room at a tall figure dimly silhouetted against the flickering torchlight. A Koopa-shaped shadow stood near him—Kooporo, the traitorous "guide." And between the two fiends stood the outlines of Athos and Amethyst.

"Good," Mario whispered. "They haven't taken Athos and Amethyst away yet."

No sooner had Mario spoken than a large black portal opened in front of the four silhouettes, and from its murky depths stepped a fifth figure. The faint light the torches shed on the newcomer told Mario all he needed to know.

"It's Cyanara!" he exclaimed under his breath.

Cyanara, unaware of Mario's presence, smiled her cunning, crafty smile at her two captives. "Well, well," she began smoothly, "it looks like poor Amethyst took the bait, didn't she?"

Amethyst stared Cyanara down, defiance lighting her eyes still.

"I didn't think we'd exactly be on speaking terms," remarked the Empress suavely. "Now I'll have that Disc of yours, if you please."

"You can't have it!" shot back Amethyst vehemently. But with her hands bound, she was powerless to enforce her bold statement.

Deftly Cyanara reached into Amethyst's rainbow robe and withdrew the glittering purple Amethyst Disc. She turned it over in her hands, admiring it in the torchlight. Finally she looked back at her prisoners. "Well, now that that's done, I have a very _special_ place for both of you in my fortress. Come with me." Moving behind her captives, she smiled and whispered into Amethyst's ear, "And I've saved the best place for _you._" She chuckled wickedly and suddenly shoved the two forward through the portal.

"No!" Mario cried and leaped forward into the light. "Stop right there, Cyanara!"

Cyanara looked past Takanyar and Kooporo to see Mario standing several yards back, face defiant, fists poised to strike. She laughed scornfully. "Takanyar," she said peremptorily, "see to it that you bring Mario back with you." Turning, she stepped back through the black portal, and it closed behind her.

Takanyar turned to face Mario. Luigi and Ms. Mowz dashed forward to stand beside Mario as Kooporo bared his teeth at the little group.

"You've taken on too much at once, Mario," Takanyar informed him grimly. "With the power of the Hyacinth Ring, I am undefeatable. The very earth obeys my every command." He raised his white Staff of Dreams, and the red gem atop it glowed in the torchlight. "Prepare to meet your maker!"

Kooporo, at a command from Takanyar, curled up inside his shell and shot himself at Mario. However, being highly experienced with Koopas, Mario simply stomped on Kooporo's shell and stopped him dead. He picked up the shell and hurled it back at Takanyar, who easily dodged it. Takanyar was not expecting the shell to rebound from the wall and strike him from behind, though, which it did. The speeding shell knocked his feet out from under him, sending him crashing painfully to the rough stone floor. Mario allowed the shell to pass by him, and it shot right out of the room into the exit tunnel.

"So much for your assistant, Takanyar," Mario informed his foe with a twinge of sarcasm.

Takanyar got hastily to his feet. "I'll not be so foolish as to let you win this time, Mario," he said through gritted teeth. "Take this!" A beam of sparkling yellow energy shot from the gem atop the Staff of Dreams, barely missing Mario as he dove to one side. Before he could get to his feet Takanyar had zapped him with a second beam, making him yell in pain. Ms. Mowz dashed up to the unsuspecting Takanyar and slapped him silly while Mario regained his footing.

Mario, knowing that Takanyar (like Zaron) had an aversion to ice, began to hurl ice balls at his white-cloaked enemy. Like Zaron, Takanyar reeled under the hits; but before the ice balls could do much damage, the red-caped villain used the Staff of Dreams to put a sparkling yellow energy barrier around himself, deflecting the balls harmlessly away.

"You think a barrier is gonna stop us?" Mario asked, a challenge in his voice. "Ms. Mowz! Show him what that slap of yours can do!"

Ms. Mowz's eyes sparkled behind her fancy red glasses. "My pleasure, sweetie," she replied with a crafty smile. Like a white blur she shot forward, ducked behind Takanyar, and dealt him a tremendous smack that shattered the barrier and landed Takanyar face-down on the rough cavern floor. She was back beside Mario and Luigi before Takanyar could get up again.

"You've knocked me twice, Mario," spoke Takanyar in bitter rage, "but the third time will never come! Ring! Show forth your power!" He held his right hand high, and the Hyacinth Ring gleamed brightly from his fourth finger.

Suddenly dozens of stalactites fell from the cavern's ceiling and shattered around Takanyar. Before Mario's astonished eyes, the pieces of rock uprighted themselves and assembled in neat rows before Takanyar like a miniature limestone army.

"At my word the world becomes a living thing," pronounced Takanyar dramatically, "ready to do my bidding. With the Hyacinth Ring I will turn even the ground you stand on against you!" He pointed directly at Mario. "Attack!"

Immediately the columns of rock chunks rolled forward toward Mario. He leaped aside, but the "living" stones turned and continued pursuing him. He tried using his fireballs on them with no effect. Ice did not hurt the stones either. Again Ms. Mowz came to his rescue by shattering the chunks one by one with her defense-penetrating slaps.

"Grrr. That was only the beginning, Mario. Let's see you avoid this!" As Takanyar spoke, the ground under Mario's feet suddenly heaved up and folded its rocky layers over Mario's feet, embedding him in the floor as if he'd been standing in cement while it hardened around his ankles. He couldn't move. There was a crackling noise over his head, and a single stalactite broke off the ceiling and fell directly toward his head.

Mario jerked his head out of the way, and the sharp point of rock smashed over his right shoulder, impairing his right arm. The shards left by the broken stalactite came alive and plastered themselves to Mario's clothing and skin. He looked around in desperation as more and more rock began to coat him. He was beginning to look like a stone statue.

"What's the matter, Mario?" chuckled Takanyar. "Petrified?" He laughed outright. "The Empress will be most pleased when I present this piece of artwork to her!"

"If there's one thing I'm not interested in becoming, it's a statue!" exclaimed Mario. "Hrrrrgh!" He strained with all his might against the rock binding him to the floor, but in vain. The rock shards from the floor kept swarming onto him like insects and attaching themselves to him. Soon he was completely encased in a shell of grayish-brown limestone. He was unable to move or even speak.

"BRO!!" cried Luigi.

"Ha!" laughed Takanyar. "I knew he would never be able to resist the Hyacinth Ring's power. Now to bring my prize to my empress!" He stepped up to the Mario "statue" and reached out to wrench it from the floor.

Suddenly the statue exploded into a million pieces, flinging rock and dust into Takanyar's face and blinding him for a moment. Before he could clear his eyes of dirt he'd been tackled by Mario and brought to a crash landing on the rough floor. Mario pounded his fist into Takanyar's stomach, leaving his foe gasping for breath. Then, while Takanyar gasped helplessly for air, he removed the Hyacinth Ring from Takanyar's fourth finger and placed it on his own. Now Mario's right hand bore the Jasper, Topaz, and Hyacinth Rings, one Ring to a finger.

"N-No! My power! The Rainbow Ring!" gasped Takanyar as he lay breathless on the floor.

"Too bad for you, Takanyar," said Mario grimly as he pinned his enemy down with his left hand. "You succeeded in resurrecting the Shadows Royal, but _you're_ the one who's gonna need resurrecting this time!" He pulled his right fist back and charged up his Smash Attack.

Takanyar paled. "M-Mario, NOOOOOOO!!"

The force of Mario's blow literally punched Takanyar into the cavern floor, leaving a mid-sized crater with Takanyar lying broken and bleeding at its bottom. He lifted his blackened eyelids and looked up at Mario, now standing at the crater's outer rim looking down at him.

"Ungh... You're...too...strong...for me... For...the second...time...I have...failed...to defeat you... I would...rather...die...than return...to my empress...after... having...failed...once again..." He groaned, and his voice began to fade. "Mario... Cyanara...will...get you...yet..." A last breath escaped his lips, and he lay still.

Mario, breathing heavily from exertion, stared at his fallen enemy for a moment. "After all he's done...all he tried to do...he's finally gone for good. Finally."

Luigi came up beside him. "It wasn't really his fault, you know."

"I know." Mario still stared at Takanyar's lifeless body. "He was just a puppet for Cyanara. She's the one behind everything. Nothing's going to be normal again until she's been finished off once and for all." He pulled the DTD from his pocket. "DT?"

"Yes, Mario?" inquired the white eight-inch disk.

Mario fitted the Hyacinth Ring into the depression on DT's surface. "On to Green Dimension!"

"Complying," droned the gadget, and in a few seconds a glowing green portal opened before Mario and his group.

"Quite an interesting device you've got there, Mr. Cutie," Ms. Mowz commented with a smile.

Mario nodded. "Thanks for breaking me out of that statue, Ms. Mowz. Let's-a go!" He jumped through the portal with Luigi and Ms. Mowz right behind him.

* * *

"So my two 'mutants' have been sent to their destination?" asked Cyanara with a smile. Her straight black hair shimmered in the fluorescent light in the X-Naut factory area, and her jet black eyes gleamed with delight.

"Yes, O Great One," responded Sir Grodus with a bow. "All is done as you commanded."

The woman in the sheer, clingy black skirt and ruby-red top smiled seductively. "Excellent." Her left hand rested on her hip, just above the lavender miniskirt worn over the long black one.

"Grodus," she began peremptorily, "open a portal to Yellow Dimension. Takanyar should be through with Mario by this time."

"Yes, Your Imperial Highness." The computer-brained X-Naut dictator pulled out his special DTD. Cyanara placed her black Rainbow Ring in contact with the DTD's central depression. Grodus entered a passcode on his DTD's keypad, and immediately a yellow portal opened up before Cyanara. She stepped through it. Moments later she returned, her face hard and black with rage. A jerk of her hand told Grodus to shut the portal.

"What is wrong, Great One?" inquired Grodus as he closed the dimensional portal.

Cyanara seethed. "If Mario had only taken the Hyacinth Ring from Takanyar, I would not be angry. But Takanyar is dead! _DEAD!_" She shook with rage and clenched her fists. "Mario, this is unforgivable!" she seethed through her teeth. "I'll see you lying dead at my feet if it's the last thing I do!"

* * *

Mario's feet sank three inches into the soft new snow as he landed on the other side of the portal. Ms. Mowz landed lightly beside him. Luigi sprawled face-first in the cold snow, having lost his footing upon landing. He got up wiping the snow from his face.

"Brrrr," Mario shivered as he brushed a think layer of snow from his cap. The frosty flakes of snow were falling all around them, coating everything. "It's _cold._" A few lonely pine trees stood nearby, but other than that the area seemed a barren, frozen wasteland. A frigid wind blew bitterly over the frosty surface.

"Any idea where we are?" Luigi asked, sniffling as he wiped his dripping nose.

Mario cast his eyes around the surrounding area. "My first thought was Star Mountain, but we're not on a slope and there are no slopes nearby. So we can't be on a mountain at all." He furrowed his brow. "Something about this place seems familiar, though..."

Ms. Mowz caught a snowflake on her nose, then licked it off. "Well, sweetie, no sense in just standing around. Let's get going!"

Mario shrugged. "Guess we'll just pick a direction and hope we don't get lost and die of hypothermia."

"Sounds like a plan," Luigi scoffed.

"Got a better idea?"

"Uh...no."

"Then come on," Mario said simply as he began stepping through the snow. Luigi and Ms. Mowz stuck close behind him, and together the three struck out across the snow-covered landscape, their eyes straining for any sign of civilization. For over two hours they plodded on, never stopping to rest. To do so was to risk freezing to death. Their only safety lay in constant motion, which would create extra heat to warm their chilled bodies. On and on they trudged through the seemingly endless drifts, their strength slowly ebbing away.

At last they could go no farther. Luigi and Ms. Mowz collapsed in the snow mere seconds from each other. Mario struggled on for a few more yards before succumbing himself to the deadly cold. The heroic plumber lay in the snow as one dead, the icy wind biting at his back.

_Must...keep...going..._ he thought numbly, but his body refused to get up. _Can't...stay...here... Cold... I'll...freeze... So...cold..._

* * *

The Shadow King and Queen stood in the Empress's throne room, bowing before the imposing silver throne. The polished black marble beneath their feet gleamed under the ceiling skylights, contrasting with the long scarlet carpet that stretched from the silver double doors to the Empress's throne itself. Cyanara smiled pleasantly at her two servants from her place on her throne.

"At last you return," she remarked. "I was beginning to worry that perhaps you were not coming back."

"No, no," the King hastened to say. "We bring important information from Sarasaland."

"Pray tell, Great One," inquired the Queen, "did you know that Princess Daisy is once again alive?"

Cyanara started and leaned forward. "What?!"

"It is true," confirmed the Shadow King. His blood-red crown glinted in the sunlight. "Somehow she has returned from the dead."

Stunned, Cyanara leaned back and allowed this information to sink into her mind. "No...no, no, no, no, no..." she murmured. "With Daisy back, I'll have to—" She stopped. "No matter. I will execute the plan despite this complication. This unfortunate incident will not interfere with the grand scheme." Her eyes, however, said otherwise, being troubled still. "Do you still have the Ring I gave you?"

The Queen held up her gray-gloved left hand. A light blue gem sparkled from the golden ring on her fifth finger.

"Good," replied Cyanara. "You know what is expected of you." A hint of a smile came over her face.

"We will do as you command, Great One," responded the black-vested King with another bow. "Where Zaron, Grodus, and Takanyar have failed, _we_ will succeed." The Shadows Royal turned and exited the throne room through the silver doors.

Cyanara smiled fully. "Of course you will...if you get the chance." She laughed softly to herself. "Green Dimension holds quite a surprise for Mario..."

* * *

"Comrade! He has been asleep for a whole day, BOMB, and is now waking up, KA-BOMB!"

"Mario, wake up, KA-POWIE!"

Mario groaned and opened his eyes. He was drenched in sweat, the room was so hot. The blankets piled on top of him only made things worse. Instinctively he kicked them off.

"Wow! He really _is_ awake, BOMB-BOMB!"

The groggy Mario turned his head to see two Bob-Ombs, one gray and one green, standing beside the wooden bunk he lay on. Behind the two a large fire was roaring inside an old iron stove. The red-painted walls were loaded with tools and utensils of all sorts, and mismatched rugs and carpet remnant covered the floor. The place had the look of a cozy yet cluttered cabin.

"Da, it is good to see you again, Mario, SHA-BOMB," pronounced the mustachioed green Bob-Omb in a thick Russian accent. His tall bearskin hat was nearly as tall as he was.

Mario sat up in bed. "...Do I know you?" he asked, puzzled.

"Da!" exclaimed the green Bob-Omb. "I am the mayor of Fahr Outpost, SHA-PLOOMIE. We use big bomb cannon to shoot you to moon, KA-PLOWIE."

"Yeah, I remember you!" Mario replied, a smile splitting his face. "And you wouldn't even tell me about the cannon at first!"

The mayor reddened. "...Da, well...you know the rule. No mention of cannon to non-Bob-Ombs. But if we did not put you in cannon, world could end. Not good. So we made exception for you, BOMB."

Mario chuckled at the recollection but quickly turned serious. "Mayor, I have to ask another favor. This evil woman named Cyanara has Princess Peach prisoner. I need your help to—"

The cabin door splintered open before Mario could finish his sentence, and there in the doorway, accompanied by a blast of frigid air, stood five Shroobs. Mario gaped at the intruders. The vile purple mushrooms began trooping into the room, fangs showing from loosely-hung jaws as they reached out their pincers to seize Mario.

"Yaa!" Mario snapped out of his stare and leaped into action, jumping off the bed and squashing the first Shroob under his shoes. The other four pulled out their yellow alien pistols and began shooting at Mario. Mario easily dodged the four pink energy shots and stomped a second Shroob into oblivion. The gray Bob-Omb beside the mayor, having been rather quiet until now, suddenly rushed forward and exploded himself right in the face of the third Shroob, blowing him to kingdom come. Mario and the Bob-Omb quickly dispatched the remaining two aliens.

The mayor whistled through his thick brown mustache. "BOMB! Impressive, SHA-BOMB. Those strange mushrooms have been around for days, but we Bob-Ombs just blow them up when they come here, KA-BOMB."

"Mayor, your men carried me here while I was unconscious, right?" Mario asked as he attempted to repair the now-broken door.

"Da, Mario."

Mario managed to fit the splintered boards back together and sat back down on the bunk. "Did they find Luigi and Ms. Mowz too?"

"Hmmmm..." The mayor frowned. "I think so. But they will be in other cabins, SHA-PLOMB."

"I'll be right back Mayor," said Mario hastily as he got to his feet again. "I've got to get Luigi and Ms. Mowz over here so we can talk about these Shroobs." He carefully opened the damaged door. The snow had stopped falling, leaving a foot and a half of snow behind as evidence of its former presence. Mario shivered and stepped outside, shutting the door behind him. Around him he could see the dozen or so metal cabins, shaped like miniature longhouses, that comprised Fahr Outpost. He began wading through the deep drifts that came almost to his knees, glancing up at the dingy-gray overcast sky above.

Suddenly a pink energy ball shot past his face, narrowly missing his nose. Instantly he threw himself into the snow to conceal himself. The snow felt icy cold against his face as he lay in the drifts, waiting.

Slowly he raised his head above the snow. He stared at what was coming toward him.

Thousands of Shroobs, each wielding an alien energy pistol, came marching through the mouth-deep snow, heading directly for Fahr Outpost. Their hollow red eyes stared forward at their target area as if they were robots, preprogrammed to follow instructions with machine-like precision. Mechanically the mindless alien invaders stalked forward through the drifts, closing in on an unsuspecting Fahr Outpost. Their mission?

Destroy Mario.

As the Shroobs converged on Fahr Outpost, Mario began dashing through the snowdrifts as fast as he could, trying to get to one of the cabins before the aliens reached them. He stumbled up to the door of one of the cabins and tore it open. Four black Bob-Ombs in bearskin hats started in their seats around the wooden table, and half a deck of cards fell to the floor and scrambled itself into a jumbled pile.

"It's Mario, KA-BOOM!" exclaimed one of the card players.

"Come on in, SHA-BLOOMIE!" invited another.

"Can't," Mario gasped, breathless from exertion and the icy cold outside. "Look!"

The for Bob-Ombs looked through the doorway past Mario and saw the Shroob horde stalking into Fahr Outpost. Instantly one of them jumped up, raced to the wall, and pressed a red button there. Sirens started wailing in every cabin, alerting their occupants to the invasion. Then the four black Bob-Ombs left the cabin in a rush and plowed through the snow toward the oncoming enemy. Mario followed them and watched as every cabin door flew open and dozens of Bob-Ombs came rushing out to repel the intruders.

"We've been expecting this, KA-PLOWIE!" shouted one Bob-Omb to Mario over the din of Shroob ray guns and exploding Bob-Ombs. "Those strange mushrooms have been showing up for days, BOMB, in little groups, BOMB-BOMB! The big army is finally here, SHA-PLOMB! And we get to blow ourselves up, KA-BOOMIE!" He charged into the fray and took out two Shroobs with one blast.

"Looks like there's more than enough for everyone!" Mario said aloud. "Guess I'll have my share of the fun!" He dashed through the foot and a half of snow and began swinging his fists, clobbering Shroobs left and right. In a few moments he saw Luigi and Ms. Mowz come running out of one of the cabins and join the fight. The explosive power of the outnumbered Bob-Ombs was steadily pushing the aliens back. Victory seemed a foregone conclusion.

Suddenly wave after wave of white Shroob flying saucers came swooping out of the overcast sky and began circling the battleground high over the heads of both sides, firing their mounted ray guns at the citizens of Fahr Outpost. Mario looked up and groaned when he saw the small Shroob saucers with the heads and eyes of their pilots showing through their topsides.

"How can we fight an enemy we can't reach?!" he exclaimed in consternation as the fire from the saucers began to turn the tide of battle against Mario and his Bob-Omb allies. Suddenly a thought struck him, and he seized the nearest Bob-Omb and hurled him into the air at one of the saucers.

"Whee-hee! Look at me, BOMB!" The Bob-Omb crashed into the flying saucer and blew it into a million pieces.

"That's the stuff, bro!" yelled Luigi from Mario's left. He too picked up a Bob-Omb and chucked him at a saucer, blowing it to atoms. As Ms. Mowz was too small to do the throwing, she busied herself with slapping the ground troops silly while Mario and Luigi took care of the enemy aircraft.

A huge shadow fell over Fahr Outpost, darkening the already-dim light from the overcast sky. Mario and the others looked up to see a huge Shroob mushroom with a giant white disk encircling it, making it appear like a flying saucer, looming in the sky overhead. Mario gasped.

"It's the Shroob mothership!" shouted Luigi over the continued noise of battle. "Looks like the Shroobs are planning to make a comeback!"

"Not if _we_ have anything to say about it!" Mario shouted back. "We've GOT to get inside that ship!"

"You go ahead!" Ms. Mowz yelled to them. "I'll handle things down here!"

The Hyacinth Ring suddenly burst into flaming color. Mario looked at it, startled, then switched his attention to the mothership above him.

"There must be another Rainbow Ring in there!" guessed Mario. "All the more reason for us to get inside!" He turned back to Luigi. "Bro—"

Luigi wasn't there.

"Luigi?"

"Wahaa! Take that!" Luigi shouted from atop a Shroob saucer. He reached down and yanked the alien pilot out of the cockpit, hurling him through the air like a rag doll. Then he got into the cockpit himself and flew the Shroob UFO down to Mario. "Need a ride?" he asked with a grin.

Mario hopped atop the saucer. "Luigi, sometimes you have the best, craziest, most illogical ideas ever, you know that? C'mon, let's get inside that mothership!"

"Aye-aye, Cap'n!" Luigi took off toward the massive spacecraft above them, streaking past the unfriendly saucers still bombarding the battlefield, and guided the tiny craft through an opening in the mothership's underbelly into a large hangar.

Mario stepped off the saucer onto the glimmering green floor. His footsteps echoed in the empty hangar. He looked around cautiously. The decor was mostly purple, of course, with the Shroob mushroom colors covering walls and ceiling. No other saucers were in the room—they were all outside at the battle scene.

"Urk! Grrr—I'm stuck!" Luigi desperately tried to push himself up and out of the UFO's cockpit but could not. Mario took hold of his younger sibling and tugged with all his might. In a few seconds Luigi popped out of the saucer and fell in a heap on top of Mario. Both brothers quickly got to their feet again.

"Kinda quiet," Luigi commented. The silence was almost unbearable.

"Yeah," Mario replied quietly. "Come on, we've got to find that fourth Ring and stop this mothership. The door's over there." He pointed to a blue double door across the hangar. Together the brothers made their way across the vast empty hangar to the door and pushed in open slightly. Peeping through the crack in the doorway, Mario saw a long white hallway paved with pink stretching out to both sides. No one was in sight.

"All clear," Mario whispered. "Let's go."

Tentatively he stepped out into the circular hall. Nothing happened—no alarms, no sirens, nothing. Relieved, he motioned for Luigi to join him in the hallway, which he did.

"Hey, bro," Luigi said softly, "look up."

Mario looked up. From all appearances the ceiling over their head was some kind of clear, solidified gel that they could see right through. It also seemed that the ceiling over their heads was the floor for the next hallway above them, which in turn also had a clear ceiling, and so on for over a dozen stories up. Mario and Luigi gaped in dumbfounded amazement at the elaborate arrangement that allowed them to see up to the very top of the mothership's main area, almost two hundred feet above them.

"Wow," breathed Mario. "This is incredible."

Luigi nodded, too amazed to speak.

"Well, let's get going," Mario said at last, eyeing the Shroobs in the hallways above. They did not notice the brothers' presence. "I'm guessing the Ring's probably near the top of this thing." He looked down the circular hallway. "See an elevator anywhere?"

* * *

Daisy looked over to see Shyga enter the infirmary room. "Your Highness?"

"Shyga," Daisy said gratefully, "thanks for staying with me. It gets awfully lonely without you." She smiled and relaxed on her hospital bed.

"I wanted to ask you something," Shyga began as she sat in the chair beside the bed. "What happened to you to make you lose consciousness? You were out cold for three days!"

"...I'm not sure," replied Princess Daisy, wrinkling her forehead. "My memory of that day is kind of fuzzy."

"Last Sunday?" queried Shyga.

Daisy nodded. "Let me see if I can remember what happened." She was silent for a minute, the slowly began to speak.

"Sunday, after Aster and I came back here to the castle, I gave Peach a call. We talked for a while, but right in the middle of the conversation Rachel interrupted Peach with a report that her castle was under attack by those horrible Paroidian Guards." Daisy shivered at the mention of the name.

"Who are they?" inquired Shyga, listening intently.

"They're the Great One's personal bodyguards—more like a small army, actually."

"Go on," urged Shyga.

Daisy took a deep breath. "Well, when Peach told me what Rachel had said, I told her to come here and stay with me to avoid capture. She said she would, and both her and Rachel rushed away from the phone. Peach left the phone off the hook so I could hear what was going on. It was very quiet for a few minutes. Then there was a crashing sound over and over, as if the enemy was trashing the castle. _Then_ someone picked up the phone, and I demanded to know who he was and why he was in Peach's castle. He never told me anything but "We have our orders" and something else I don't remember. Then this horrible, high-pitched shrieking noise came over the phone, and...I don't remember anything after that." Daisy sighed. "Did Peach make it here?"

"She's not here, Your Highness," replied Shyga gravely. "We haven't had any incoming planes from the Mushroom Kingdom for the past three days...ever since your phone call," she finished with a puzzled tone.

Daisy looked alarmed. "Shyga, send Spy Guy to the Mushroom Kingdom this instant!"

"S-Spy Guy?" Shyga looked shocked. "B-But, Your Highness, he's—"

"Do it!" commanded Daisy. "Be sure Gadget Guy gives him _all_ of his little 'spy toys.' I want to know _exactly_ what's going on in the Mushroom Kingdom. I don't know what's happening, but it certainly smells rotten to me."

"Yes, Your Highness," Shyga responded somewhat reluctantly as she rose to leave. "I'll give Spy Guy the order."


	12. Foiling Cyanara

"Man, this place is huge," wheezed Luigi as he trudged down the circular hall after Mario. "How big around _is_ this thing?"

"Aha! This looks like what we want," Mario announced as he looked to his left toward the center of the huge mothership. A door in the wall led to what appeared to be a cylindrical elevator shaft. "It's the elevator. We've got to get to the top of this ship and find that fourth Rainbow Ring. Let's go!" The brothers stepped through the doorway and onto the steel elevator platform, on which was emblazoned a huge purple mushroom with eyes and fangs—the emblem of the Shroob aliens. Mario grimaced at the insignia and hit the button for the top floor. The elevator began to rise—and as soon as it did Mario knew they were in trouble.

"The walls of this shaft are clear!" Mario exclaimed in consternation. "That means anyone in those hallways out there can look in here and see—"

Suddenly sirens wailed throughout the mothership, and red lights began flashing inside the elevator shaft. Every Shroob in the encircling hallways turned and stared into the shaft at Mario and Luigi.

Luigi gulped. "This doesn't look good..."

No sooner had he spoken than Shroob after Shroob dropped into the elevator shaft from above, guns aimed at the brothers. They surrounded the two within seconds. Mario and Luigi stood back to back in the middle of their enemies, staring back at them.

Nothing happened.

The elevator continued to rise. The Shroobs simply stood there, holding Mario and Luigi in their place. After a long minute of tense silence, the elevator shuddered to a stop at the top floor. The door slid open, and the Shroobs parted to allow Mario and Luigi to leave.

"Looks like we could fall right through the floor," Luigi whispered as he and Mario hesitantly stepped into the top floor hallway. He gulped as he looked down through the twenty stories of clear ceilings and floors all the way to the bottom.

"We have more important concerns right now, Luigi," Mario whispered back, looking around at the Shroobs lining the hall. All guns were trained on the two intruders. Two Shroobs came up behind the brothers and pushed them forward.

The plumbers and their hostile escorts came to a large mushroom-shaped door in the outer wall of the circular hallway. One of the aliens pushed a button on the wall, and the door split in half and slid to either side, revealing a black passageway lit only by infrequently spaced lights embedded in the ceiling. Mario and Luigi were shoved inside, and the door slid shut behind them.

A yellow glow abruptly lit the interior of the darkened corridor. Mario gazed down at the Hyacinth Ring on his right fourth finger as it sent forth its brilliant gleam.

"Next Ring, here we come," Mario muttered under his breath. "That is, provided we aren't being held prisoner in here."

"No more traveling in the dark," Luigi whimpered. "I hate the dark! It reminds me of that creepy mansion I had to rescue you from. Brrrr!" He shivered in fright.

"No time for being scared now, Luigi," Mario reprimanded him. "Let's see if there's a way out of this hall."

Together the brothers cautiously felt their way down pitch-black hallway. Walls, ceiling, and floor were all painted black to absorb light, leaving the brothers in total darkness with only one sense of direction—the few dim fluorescent lights in the ceiling. It felt like walking on an invisible floor—neither brother could _see_ the floor. The Hyacinth Ring glowed ever more brightly as they continued forward.

After an eternity of walking in pitch darkness, Mario ran smack into a wall that blocked the hallway.

"End of the line," he announced. He ran his hand over the nearly-invisible wall hidden from sight in the darkness of the corridor. "Now what?"

"Maybe it's a secret door," suggested Luigi hopefully.

"Could be," Mario replied, still passing his hand over the surface of the wall, "but I don't feel anything like a—"

_click_

"—A button," Mario finished, startled. The wall began to slide ponderously to the left, admitting bright light into the dark corridor and nearly blinding the brothers. When their eyes had adjusted to the light and the wall in front of them had finished sliding aside, they saw a large gleaming steel room. A giant video screen at least thirty feet tall floated in mid-air behind a complex control panel loaded with touch-sensitive monitors. Seated at this ten-foot-long console were two figures obviously of the Shroob race, but different from run-of-the-mill footsoldiers. The one on the left was large, almost three times taller than the standard Shroob, and was obviously female, judging by her crimson dress. A white crown sat atop her bulbous head. The Shroob on the right was the average Shroob size, but was apparently aged. A crooked cane leaned against the control panel beside his seat, and his body was somewhat old and frail-looking.

Without warning both Shroobs turned in their seats and looked directly at the startled Mario and Luigi. Both Shroobs had those haunting hollow black eyes with gleaming red pupils, and the elderly one had a scraggly white mustache and goatee.

"Well," sneered the tall female on the left, "if it isn't Mario and Luigi, those pathetic mushroom heads!"

"P-Princess Shroob?!" exclaimed Luigi.

"No way!" Mario yelled. "We did you and your sister in years ago! And Shroobsworth too!"

"I _still_ despise you pathetic humans," spat the alien princess, ignoring the brothers' words. "I _still_ desire revenge for my precious younger sister, whom you so cruelly killed! And I _STILL_ will spread the Shroobs to every corner of the Mushroom Kingdom until _all_ of your race have been conquered and enslaved!" she shouted. "My sister...my dear, sweet younger sister... I WILL AVENGE HER!!" Princess Shroob leaped out of her seat with surprising agility and crashed to the steel floor not five feet from Mario and Luigi. The brothers backed away and went into battle stance.

"So this is why those Shroobs stuck us in that hallway," Mario muttered. "Princess Shroob wants hers. Well, we'll make sure she gets it!"

"Fools!" cried Princess Shroob, enraged. "I fear nothing! Do you hear me? NOTHING! The present I was going to give you before in payment for my sister's death—I will give it to you NOW! DIE!!!"

Princess Shroob roared and rushed the brothers, who leaped to either side to avoid her body slam. She turned toward Mario and began firing energy balls from her pincer hands. The red-capped plumber found himself dancing to avoid the relentless barrage.

Luigi ran up behind the royal Shroob and leaped, planting his feet squarely on her head. He quickly rebounded to the floor as his target roared in pain and swiped at him with her steel claws.

Without warning, the white-haired Shroobsworth clocked Luigi over the head with his cane. Luigi turned and swung a fist at the diabolical steward, knocking him backward into the control panel.

"Don't touch him!" roared Princess Shroob. "You will pay for that!" A huge black-and-purple meteor dropped from the ceiling, and the royal Shroob caught it and hurled it at Luigi. It struck him on the back as he turned to run and sent him flying, smashing his head into the giant video screen.

Mario started forward to help his brother, but Princess Shroob seized his left arm in her pincer claws and picked him up as easily as she would a rag doll. He struggled, but the Shroob princess held him fast. "Going somewhere?" she questioned viciously.

"I sure am!" Mario doubled up his free hand and socked Princess Shroob in the eye, making her roar more loudly than ever. She immediately dropped Mario and clutched at her wounded eye. Quickly Mario rushed to Luigi and helped him to his feet.

Princess Shroob roared again, and a single Shroob saucer zipped into the room, bearing a glass of green liquid on its topside. The Shroob Princess grasped the glass and downed its contents, healing her injury instantly. She then threw the glass aside and smacked the saucer back out of the room.

"Ahh, now I am stronger. Now to crush you two pests!" Again she fired a barrage of pink energy from her pincers. The brothers barely dodged it.

"Is it just me, or is she getting faster?" Luigi gulped.

Suddenly Princess Shroob charged up a tremendous energy ball in her mouth and fired the huge projectile at the brothers. They dodged it, but when it struck the floor it exploded in a shock wave of energy that sent them sprawling. Shroobsworth, having recovered from Luigi's blow, rushed up to the fallen brothers and tried to bite Mario's leg with his sharp fangs. Mario rolled out of the way and lashed out with his feet, scoring a direct hit on Shroobsworth's midsection. The steward tottered backward and collapsed, the wind knocked out of him.

"So you two are still as stubborn as you were before," sneered the royal Shroob with a nasty overtone. "Then I will have to unleash the power of this Ring to rid myself of you for good." She held out her right pincer, showing the green fourth Ring on one of the hand's two fingers.

"It's the Rainbow Ring!" exclaimed Mario.

"Prepare to feel my new power," intoned Princess Shroob wickedly. "You will love it!" Holding her right claw high, she shouted something in guttural Shrooboid, and the Ring suddenly gleamed bright green.

The next thing Mario and Luigi knew, they had been hit by a blast of invisible energy and been smashed against the control panel behind them.

"Wh-What?! Where did _that_ come from?!" Luigi cried.

"The Jade Ring possesses psychic powers. You are at my mercy now!" laughed the monstrous Shroob in glee.

"Not yet we aren't!" Mario shot back. "I'm gonna get that Ring from you if it's the last thing I do!"

Princess Shroob picked Mario up off the floor with her newly-acquired psychic ability and bashed his head repeatedly against the ceiling until he was almost unconscious. Then she simply let him fall. He struck the floor and crumpled into a heap.

"Ungh..." Mario strained his muscles, trying to rise, but could not. "Too...strong... Ngh!"

"I will crush you, you filthy plumber!" threatened Princess Shroob, crushing his body with her psychic power. He grunted in pain and struggled against the invisible hold on him.

"HIYAA!!" Luigi slammed his fist into Princess Shroob's unprotected head, making her stumble forward and cutting off her psychic concentration. Immediately Mario was back on his feet, and together he and Luigi kept Princess Shroob too busy to focus and use her psychic powers. Gradually they wore her strength down; slowly they tired her out. At last the royal Shroob gasped for breath and staggered away from the Mario Bros.

"Why, you—!! How could this have happened?! Beaten by only two instead of four, and with my new power! Aagh—Noooo!!!" She staggered again and nearly fell.

"Time to finish this up," stated Mario confidently. "Lights out, Princess Shroob!"

Princess Shroob was knocked into the control panel under the force of Mario's finishing blow. She gave a horrible Shrooboid screech and collapsed. The red glow of her pupils faded into blackness. She was dead.

"Guess that takes care of that," said Mari with finality. He plucked the Jade Ring from his fallen enemy's claw and slipped it onto his right fifth finger. Now his right hand held the first four Rainbow Rings—Jasper, Topaz, Hyacinth, and Jade. "Four Rings down, four to go. Now let's get out of here." The brothers made for the door.

Suddenly Mario's four Rings burst into flaming color, glowing with such intensity that Mario and Luigi were nearly blinded. Mario's right hand began to shake uncontrollably under the influence of some powerful unseen force.

"I can't—control these things!" Mario yelled as he clutched desperately with his left hand at his spasm-wracked right. "Something's gone wrong! The Rings are reacting to _something,_ but _what?_"

As Mario spoke, the four Rings suddenly shot off his fingers like bottle rockets and hovered to a stop over Shroobsworth's limp body. Mario and Luigi watched in open-mouthed amazement as the Rings unleashed a torrent of multicolored energy into the steward, causing him to lose his alien characteristics until -

Toadsworth groaned and opened his eyes. "Ugh... I say, where on earth am I?"

"Toadsworth!" Luigi dashed to him and helped him up.

The old steward tottered precariously on his feeble legs. "Thank you, Master Luigi. I'm feeling rather exhausted at the moment. Give me a minute to rest my feet." He slowly sat down in one of the chairs by the control panel.

The Rings, having finished restoring Toadsworth to his original form, flew to Princess Shroob and began channeling their energy into her as well. Mario was suddenly struck by a shocking idea. "Wait!" he cried as he watched the Rings transform the Shroob princess. "If Shroobsworth was really Toadsworth, then is Princess Shroob—!!" He stared at the transforming creature.

Having completed the change, the four Rainbow Rings returned to their places on Mario's right hand, leaving none other than Princess Peach lying on the control room floor. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Hm? Where am I?"

"PEACH!!!" Mario rushed to her.

"Mario!" Peach sat up. "It's you!"

The next instant Mario had Peach locked in a tight embrace. "You have no idea how worried I've been about you!" he exclaimed. "Thank goodness you're all right!"

"_I_ was worried about _you,_ you mean," Peach responded, arms still around Mario. "Cyanara's laid a trap for you! She's sent one Rainbow Ring to each kingdom dimension in order to lure you forward into her fortress, and she's got a trap there waiting for you!"

Mario released the Princess from his arms and put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't have a choice, Peach. You're safe and so is Toadsworth, but—"

"Toadsworth?!" Peach looked hastily around and spotted her steward. "You're all right!"

"Of course I'm all right, Your Highness!" spluttered Toadsworth. "I dare say I've had enough of this drab old room, though. Might we return to the castle?"

Peach smiled and brushed the question aside with a wave of her hand.

"Peach," Mario continued seriously, "you may be safe for now, but the Rainbow Guardians and the rest of the castle staff are still captive in that fortress. You know what Cyanara will do with them if they stay there long enough."

Peach nodded, tears welling in her eyes at the thought.

"And you know too what will happen if Cyanara manages to get all the rainbow objects."

"She'll never find the last Rainbow Disc, Mario," Peach informed him with an air of certainty. "It disappeared from the castle the day after we defeated the Shadow Legion. I don't even know where it is."

"Maybe that's for the better," Mario replied.

For the first time Peach took notice of her surroundings. "Mario...where are we?"

"We're in the control room of the Shroob mothership."

"Shroob mothership—!" Peach put a hand to her mouth. "Mario, I—I was—Did I—"

Mario silenced her. "I don't know how, but you were Princess Shroob. And yes, we had to fight you."

Peach began to cry. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Mario! Cyanara injected me and Toadsworth with Shroob DNA and mutated us both. And I actually attacked you!"

"It wasn't your fault, Peach," Mario said soothingly. "It's OK. We're fine and so are you. No harm done."

"Master Mario," Toadsworth spoke up, "shall we get out of this alien craft? I'm nearly airsick from flying so long!"

"Now _that's_ the Toadsworth I remember," chuckled Mario.

* * *

"How is he holding up?" asked Cyanara, an intensity in her black eyes.

In this dim mid-sized room of stone, a startlingly complex array of electronic gadgetry lined one wall. A steel table sat in the room's center, and on it lay Athos, completely unconscious. A weird steel helmet with countless wires attached to it was firmly locked onto his head. The wires connected the helmet with the machinery along the wall.

The blue-suited technician bit his lip and looked nervously at the Empress.

"I said, 'Has Athos given in yet?'" Cyanara rephrased.

"N-No, Great One," stammered the technician. "H-He's s-still fighting it. J-Just another d-day or so and w-we should b-be able to overwrite h-his brain."

Cyanara's eyes blazed. "What about Amethyst?" she questioned menacingly.

The technician shook his head fearfully.

The Empress struck him in the face with her bare hand. "Imbecile. I want them both completely under my control by midnight, or _I will have your head._ Is that clear?"

He nodded rapidly, fear in his eyes, and rubbed his stinging cheek.

"Good." Cyanara started to turn away, then looked back at her underling. "I'll be waiting to hear of your _success._" Swiftly she left the room, leaving a fearful technician to complete his work under the shadow of her threat.

* * *

"Spy Guy is on his way," reported Shyga tiredly as she collapsed into the chair beside Daisy's hospital bed. "Dealing with him absolutely exhausts me. He can be so unreasonable sometimes!"

"He's my best agent," Daisy reminded her. "I trust his judgment."

Shyga didn't argue. She knew from past experiences that there were some things that simply shouldn't be questioned. She changed the subject. "Your Highness, Medic Guy was wondering about your behavior immediately after you came out of your coma. It was rather...odd."

"What did I do?" inquired Daisy. "I don't remember anything."

"Well," Shyga began, "you sat up very suddenly and yelled 'PEACH!!!' Then you fought the nurses and became almost hysterical when the doctor tried to calm you down. It was very unlike you. You seemed...frightened. Did you have a dream or something that scared you?"

Daisy frowned. "I can't remember anything, Shyga. Maybe I did. I—"

A loud beeping interrupted her. She sighed. "Shyga, could you give me a moment?"

"Of course, Your Highness," replied her servant sweetly. The blue-suited Shy Guy girl rose from her seat and left the room.

Daisy pressed a button on the side of her hospital bed, and whispering static filled the room. "This is quite a surprise, Spy Guy. You've never reported in this quickly before."

"That's because I usually don't have anything to report this soon," replied a masculine voice over the hidden radio. "Your Highness, it appears that the Mushroom Kingdom has been partitioned into multiple dimensions. I had to use the handheld teleporter to access different areas."

"Is Peach there?" asked Daisy hastily.

"I'm afraid not. Her castle is being occupied by the Paroidian Guard. But there is another, more pressing matter at hand. I'm currently outside the Great One's fortress. Brace yourself, Your Highness. You're not going to like this."

Daisy took a deep breath. "What is it?"

"It's your little sister, Your Highness. She's—"

Shyga burst back into the room, completely frantic. "Your Highness! Aster's gone!"

Instantly Daisy connected the two statements and realized what was going on. "Tell me you're not serious, Spy Guy!"

"I'm afraid it's true," Spy Guy responded. "I saw her here myself."

"NO!!" Daisy bolted out of her hospital bed. "ASTER!!!"

Shyga protested. "Your Highness, you're supposed to stay in bed—"

"Bed, nothing!" snapped Daisy. "My little sister has been kidnapped, and you want me in _bed?!_ I don't think so! Spy Guy, can you get her out of there?"

"Negative. The place is too heavily guarded for me to enter in secret. You'd need a full-scale army to get her out."

"No!" Daisy buried her face in her hands. "Noooooooooooo!!!"

* * *

"Eeek!"

Princess Aster backed away from the approaching Empress. "D-Don't come any closer!"

Cyanara smiled at the little seven-year-old in the green silk dress. "If it isn't Princess Aster, Daisy's little sister," she remarked. "So nice of you to pay me a _personal_ visit."

Aster hugged the wall of the throne room. Her breath came in short gasps, and her terror-filled eyes were glued to Cyanara.

"Come, come, Aster, there's no need to be so frightened," Cyanara soothed. She reached out her hand toward Aster.

Little Aster recoiled in horror. "D-Don't touch me!!" she shrieked.

Despite the frightened plea, Cyanara took her little captive's hand and drew her away from the wall. Aster shivered uncontrollably in the grasp of her captor. The Empress laughed. "Aster, I said there was no need to be frightened!" she said lightly. "I'm not going to hurt you!"

"But you killed Daisy!" protested Aster, still shivering. "You killed her!"

"But she's alive now, isn't she?" Cyanara counter-questioned. Aster, not knowing how to answer, kept silent, but her shivering remained.

"Aster," Cyanara said, getting down on her knees beside the little princess, "I'm _not_ going to hurt you! Why should I hurt a little girl like you?"

"I-I don't know," stammered the child. "B-But—"

"No 'buts,'" Cyanara reprimanded softly. "I'm going to give you a present."

"...A present?" Aster asked hesitantly.

"Yes, a present," Cyanara answered with a smile. "You'll have to wait for a couple of days, but you'll get your present. Guard!"

A single Paroidian Guard stepped into the throne room. Aster, having no fond memories of Cyanara's bodyguards, shrank back from the newcomer. Cyanara put an arm around her. "It's all right, Aster. He's just going to take you to your room. He won't hurt you."

Aster looked at the guard uncertainly. He nodded, not a trace of emotion in the gesture.

"O-OK," conceded Aster shakily. The Paroidian Guard took her white-gloved hand and led her silently out of the throne room.

No sooner had the silver doors shut behind the two than Cyanara's kind smile turned evil. She laughed to herself and mounted the low steps to her silver throne, seating herself on the imposing throne with a flourish.

"Oh, Aster, you have _no_ idea what I've got planned for you," she purred. "The Shadows Royal will fail to halt Mario's advance in Blue Dimension. I know they will. And when they do...you'll have _your_ part to play, little princess."

Abruptly she rose from her throne again. "I must pay a little visit to Green Dimension. Perhaps Mario has done his sweet princess in by this time." She smiled wickedly at the thought and swept out of the throne room.

"Grodus!" shouted Cyanara over the mechanical din as she entered the X-Naut factory. Sir Grodus himself came up to the Empress from between the machines, bowing as he did so.

"You wish to travel to Green Dimension," guessed Grodus before Cyanara could open her mouth to give him the order. "Here." He produced his DTD. Cyanara fitted the black Rainbow Ring's gem into the central depression, and Grodus entered the proper passcode. Immediately a shimmering green portal appeared before Cyanara, and she stepped through it, emerging in the control room of the Shroob mothership.

"Cyanara!" Peach gasped.

The Empress's eyes bulged, then blazed with anger.

"NOOOOOOO!!" she screamed. "Peach! You should be DEAD! Mario should have KILLED you!!!"

"I did," retorted Mario, stepping between Peach and the Empress, "but the first four Rainbow Rings undid what you did and gave both her and Toadsworth their lives back. So much for your plan, Cyanara!"

Cyanara shook with rage. "You—I'll get you yet, Peach! My method may be slow, but the end is sure! You and that pitiful plumber will _both_ lie dead at my feet before long!" She clenched a fist. "You claimed that light would have its ascendancy in the end, Peach—remember? Remember when all was in readiness to awaken the ultimate evil?" Her teeth ground at each other. "Again the half moon approaches, Peach, and all is ready once again! And THIS time—THIS time I will not fail! Darkness shall have the ascendancy!"

Mario stepped forward, fists upraised. "Get lost before I pound some sense into that empty head of yours!"

"Don't think you frighten me, Mario," Cyanara seethed. "You'll taste my power before many days are gone—and you won't enjoy it!" She disappeared through the portal she had come through, and it closed behind her.

Peach looked at Mario in fear. "Mario, don't take her lightly! If she said she'd do something, she means it. She's ruthless. You know that!"

Mario let down his fists and turned to Peach. "I know," he answered. "And I'll be careful. But someone's gotta stop her before she destroys everything!"

Peach wrapped her arms around him. "Don't do anything rash, Mario. Play it safe around my sister. She won't forgive your missteps—she'll use them against you. Be _very_ careful."

Luigi cleared his throat. "Have you two hugged long enough already?"

"Come, we should move on!" urged Toadsworth. "We've wasted too much time here as it is!"

Peach laughed at their comments, than caught herself. "...I'd almost forgotten what it was like to laugh," she murmured. "Somehow Cyanara just depresses me. It feels good to be able to laugh again."

"I know what you mean," Mario replied consolingly. "You'll be your old self again before you know it. Come on, let's go." He pulled the DTD from his overalls pocket and fitted the Jade Ring into the depression.

"Engaging dimensional portal," droned DT in his computerized male voice.

Peach gave a little gasp. "...It talks?"

"Princess Peach," intoned DT with a trace of recognition. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you."

"How do you know my name?" queried Peach, a little leery of the talking machine.

"I am an independent component of the TEC-XX and have full access to its databases. Now if you will excuse me, my speech circuits override my portal logarithm. I must cease speaking in order to complete the portal opening sequence." The gadget was silent for a few moments more, and a shimmering blue portal opened before Mario and his three companions.

"Wait!" Luigi blurted out. "We forgot Ms. Mowz!"

"She'll be fine here, Luigi," Mario replied. "There's a pipe back to Rogueport down there so she can get back to her shop. We have to keep going with or without her."

Luigi shrugged and vanished into the portal.

"So this is how you've been getting around," Peach said with a smile. "Looks like fun!"

"That glowing blue whatever-it-is certainly looks VERY unsafe to me," Toadsworth put in, giving Peach a stern look. "I'll not step through that...that thing!"

"Oh, yes, you will!" Peach walked over to him, seized his hand, and half-dragged him over to the portal, ignoring his spluttering protests. She pushed him through the portal and turned to Mario.

"Shall we?" he asked with a smile.

Peach took his hand and returned the smile. "Let's." The two stepped through the portal together.


	13. Koopaseum Clash

"...uuunhh... uugh... uuuuuuhh..."

Ruby lay on the dank floor of the tiny solitary confinement cell. She moaned with a deathly rattle in her throat; her eyes were shut in exhaustion, and her shining red hair splayed dirty and matted over the damp stone floor. Her breathing was weak and tortured.

"Ruby?" asked Amber, kneeling beside her sister again, her orange locks dangling over Ruby's face. "Ruby?"

"...Amber..." rasped Ruby, throat parched.

"Ruby, listen to me," spoke Amber urgently. "You _have_ to fight this! You can't let that evil force destroy your mind! _Fight_ it, Ruby!"

"I've...tried..." moaned Ruby almost inaudibly, "but...it's...no...use... I...can't...fight...any...more..."

"You _must_, Ruby!" insisted Amber. "Ruby, if you give in—if you let this thing kill you—" she bit her lip—"the unity of the rainbow will be broken. We Guardians are the protecting force keeping the power of the rainbow under control. If our unity is destroyed, the rainbow power will turn to chaos." Amber whispered into Ruby's ear. "Think of the consequences, Ruby! The safety of this world hinges on your survival! You _have_ to _fight!_" The tears welled up in Amber's eyes. "Please! I can't bear to lose you!"

Ruby was silent except for her ragged breathing. Amber buried her face in her hands and wept.

* * *

"What a dreary place," Peach sighed as she, Mario, Luigi, and Toadsworth gazed across miles of endless desert. Cacti and shrubs were the only features that broke the monotony of burning sand. The air shimmered as heat waves rose from the surface of the desert.

"From the freezer right into the oven," Mario quipped. "Great."

"Temperature is 102 degrees Fahrenheit and climbing," droned DT from Mario's pocket.

"This is outrageous!" spluttered Toadsworth. "I will _not_ allow the Princess to go out in this dreadful heat! She'll simply burn up!"

Mario gave the steward a withering look. "In case you haven't noticed, Toadsworth, we're all out here already."

"Well, er..." Toadsworth squinted at the blazing sun directly ahead of them, nearly halfway to the horizon. "Yes, of course. Carry on, Master Mario."

"Let's get moving," Mario announced. "The sooner we find shelter from the sun, the better."

Peach tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the right. Mario followed her finger and saw a large sand-coated building shaped like a huge turtle sitting about a mile away.

"It's the Koopaseum!" Mario exclaimed. "We must be in Gritzy Desert. Come on, let's get inside and out of the heat and sun!" The four trekked across the hot sand for several minutes before arriving at their destination.

"The door's sealed shut," Mario said in disappointment as he pounded a fist against the Koopa shell-reinforced green door. "And there's no switch to open it."

Luigi, who was pacing back and forth impatiently in front of the Koopaseum, suddenly tripped over something half-buried in the sand and fell flat on his face, the hot sand scalding his skin. He yelped in pain and scrambled to his feet, frantically brushing the burning sand from his face.

"The switch!" cried Mario and rushed to the spot where Luigi had tripped. He fell to his knees and began scooping the hot sand away with his gloved hands. Slowly a blue square came into view from beneath the sand. Mario finished digging and stood on the switch. Nothing happened.

"Come on, you guys! This takes four to operate!" called Mario, and the others quickly came over and added their weight to the four-person switch. The switch groaned as if rusty and sank a full foot into the ground, and the Koopaseum door opened.

"We're in! Now hurry, it won't stay open forever!" Mario rushed forward to the door, the others following closely. They disappeared into the Koopaseum, and the door shut automatically.

* * *

"Master, let me finish Mario once and for all!"

Cyanara put a hand up to silence Diamond. "Not now, Diamond. You'll get your chance. Where is that Ring?"

The black-haired, rainbow-clad Diamond held up her left hand. An indigo gem sparkled from the ring on her fourth finger.

"You know what that means," Cyanara said simply as she again began walking down the stone corridor, her black hair swaying slightly. "Your place is in Indigo Dimension."

"But my power is far greater than that of any of your other servants!" exclaimed Diamond passionately. "Where even Princess Shroob failed, I will not! Let me destroy him _now!_"

"I do not want you to kill him yet," answered Cyanara calmly, still walking. "Only to capture him."

Diamond hurried to catch up with her leader. "Then let me capture him!"

Cyanara stopped and faced Diamond. "No," she pronounced deliberately. "Let the Shadows Royal have their chance. _When_ they fail to stop Mario—" her voice intensified—"you may prove that _your_ abilities are superior to theirs." She resumed her stroll down the hall, and Diamond stuck close by her.

"You forget how I cleverly evaded the shot which Hardshell intended should kill me," Diamond persisted. "How I survived being crushed by this fortress when it collapsed. How—"

"Enough!" Cyanara interrupted in frustration. "You have my orders. Go to Indigo Dimension at once!"

Diamond glowered. "Yes, Master," she answered spitefully.

* * *

"Amazing," breathed Toadsworth as he stepped into the Koopaseum anteroom. "This place is a veritable museum! An archaeological wonder! Incredible!" He gazed up at the high ceiling. "Walls and ceiling all of precious gold, and the floor of emerald! Riches untold!"

"I'm not so sure about the gold and emerald parts, Toadsworth," Peach corrected with an amused smile. "The gold is just paint, and the floor is green marble, not emerald."

Toadsworth looked disappointed. "Ahem, yes, I see, er...ahem."

Peach walked forward into the adjoining hallway and looked both ways. Since the building was shaped like a Koopa, the hallway was necessarily circular to accommodate the Koopa shell shape. The hall she stood in ringed the outer edge of the shell, and several windows in the inner wall permitted viewing of the central area. The Princess peered through one of these windows. Spread out before her eyes was a vast colosseum bowl with thousands of empty seats lining the sides of the bowl. At the bowl's bottom was a large golden platform which had apparently once been used as a battle arena.

"Mario, this is where the Shroobs brought me when they conquered the Mushroom Kingdom," she said with a bit of a shudder, still looking through the window.

Mario nodded. "And where Luigi and I fought that Shrooboid Brat, the whiny wimp."

Suddenly the Jade Ring began to glow brightly. Mario knew instinctively what that meant.

"There's another Rainbow Ring in this place somewhere," he said aloud.

Peach turned. "How do you know?" she asked, puzzled.

Mario pointed to the glowing Jade Ring. "When we get close to a Ring, the last Ring we got starts to glow, and the closer we get the brighter it glows."

"Like playing hot and cold," Peach summarized.

"Exactly. So let's start looking." Mari led the group out of the entryway into the main hall and started off to the left.

"_Strawberries!!_"

The four whirled around and were blinded by a camera flash.

"Wowzers! What a scoop! 'Princess Leads Tour Group through Ancient Colosseum'! This'll be a HUGE story!"

Mario groaned. "Not _her_ again..."

The camera flashed again, capturing the exasperated look on Mario's face. The Koopa wielding the camera whipped out her notepad and scribbled some quick notes, adjusting her green cap as she did so. Then she looked back at Mario's party, and her face fell.

"...Wait. You're not a tour group, are you?"

"Nope," Luigi promptly responded.

"Do I know you two?" asked the Koopa journalist, brushing back her jumbled blonde locks and indicating Mario and Luigi.

"I'm Mario," replied Mario with a roll of his eyes, "and he's Luigi."

Instantly the reporter's face lit up with that unearthly, half-insane smile. "Strawberries! It's Mario and Luigi! This is gonna be even BIGGER than I thought! 'Heroes Escort Princess through Forbidden Colosseum of Doom'! EXCELLENT!!" She scratched out her previous notes and jotted down fresh ones.

"Heavens!" exclaimed Toadsworth. "What's all the excitement about, eh?" He tapped his cane impatiently against the polished green floor. "Speak up!"

"I'm Kylie Koopa, the Koopa Kronicle's best!" pronounced the reporter dramatically, giving herself a thumbs-up. "This ace reporter's landed another BIG story! Front-page headlines! Big, bold text! The excitement! The thrill of journalism! The unrivaled—"

"Enough already!" exploded Mario. "We're here looking for something called a Rainbow Ring. Heard anything about it?"

"Heroes and Princess Hunt for Mystic Ring in Forbidden Colosseum of Doom'! LOADS better!" exclaimed Kylie, again rewriting her notes. She looked up from her notepad. "Sorry, but no dirt on any Rainbow Ring thing. Guess you're on your own on that one!" She snapped one last photo. "And with that—I—am—outta here!" She spun into her green shell and whirled out of the Koopaseum.

"Well, she was certainly helpful enough," Mario remarked sarcastically.

"Quite an...interesting girl," Peach said slowly.

"She really gets on your nerves after a while," confided Mario. "Come on, we need to start looking for that Ring!"

* * *

"It's past midnight, bro," complained Luigi in exhaustion as the group continued to hunt relentlessly for the fifth Rainbow Ring. "Has it crossed anyone's mind that nighttime is generally used for sleeping?"

"There's still one place we haven't checked yet," Mario announced, pretending not to hear Luigi.

Peach shot him a warning look. "Mario, I told you I don't want you going into the main colosseum. It's too dangerous. Who knows what might be in there?"

"That's just the point, Peach," Mario replied. "The Rainbow Ring could be in there."

"And so could anything else!" she exclaimed. "Please, Mario, don't go in there!"

Mario put a hand on her shoulder. "Either I go in there and find the Ring, or Cyanara takes control of the Mushroom Kingdom—which she will, eventually."

Peach stood in indecision for a moment. "All right," she answered reluctantly. "Toadsworth and I will pray for your safety."

"We may need it. Come on, Luigi, we've got a Ring to find!"

"As if we should even be looking at this time of night," grumbled Luigi as he followed Mario through the main colosseum doors and into the vast bowl. For a moment he forgot his tiredness as he scanned the huge arena.

"Come on," Mario repeated, heading down the narrow walkway that led from the bowl's rim down into its bottom. Together the brothers threaded their way toward the center of the arena.

At last they reached the golden battle platform. They mounted the steps and stood atop the circular stage, looking warily around. The silence in the vast empty space was surreal, eerie.

"I don't see the Ring anywhere," muttered Luigi.

"That's because you're not looking," Mario responded. The Jade Ring was glowing more brightly than ever. "Make yourself useful."

As Mario continued to scour the platform, Luigi felt the hair prickle on the back of his neck. He felt like he was being watched. But there was no one else to be seen in the vast colosseum.

* * *

Daisy tossed and turned on her plush royal bed, rumpling the flower-sprinkled comforter. She couldn't sleep. Time and again she got up and paced across the darkened room, back and forth, until she nearly dropped from exhaustion. Then she would lie down and try to rest. But the instant her head touched the pillow, all sleep would be driven from her mind, and she would find herself thinking of her little sister.

"Aster," she murmured as she stared at the orange silk bed canopy overhead, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Is there nothing I can do to rescue you from that horrible Great One?" She closed her tear-brimmed eyes and sobbed quietly. Her tears stained the pillow under her head. For over an hour she wept silently into her pillow.

At last she could weep no more and lay prone o her bed, her mind in a sorrowful turmoil. "There must be something I can do," she whispered. "But what? What could I _possibly_ do?" For hours she asked herself that question, on into the sleepless, restless night, anguishing over her beloved sister. What she couldn't know was that, miles away, inside Cyanara's fortress, a very lonely and frightened little princess was also crying, crying for the sister she missed very much.

* * *

"M-Mario," stammered Luigi, "I-I think we should l-leave n-now..."

"C'mon, Luigi, what are you so scared of?" Mario asked without even turning around. "Ghosts?" He straightened up and looked around the colosseum's dim interior. "The Ring's here somewhere, and we're going to find it. We're not leaving until we do."

"W-We've been in here for over two hours and h-haven't found a th-thing," protested Luigi weakly.

"It's gotta be here," repeated Mario. "The Jade Ring glows brightest here."

Suddenly the Jade Ring's green glow burst into lustrous brilliance, coloring the brothers with green.

Mario shielded his eyes from the intense light. "Brace yourself, Luigi. Here comes that Ring!"

The platform beneath their feet began to rumble. Instinctively they stepped back to the edge and waited.

With a tremendous shattering sound the entire center of the platform exploded upward in a million pieces, leaving a jagged hole in the platform. Slowly, menacingly, two figures rose from the smoking hole as if floating on nothing. The first was tall and masculine, with a black cloak over his red tunic and gray leggings. A blood-red crown sat atop his thick black hair. The second figure was female, with long black hair and a black dress, gray arm-length gloves, and a crown that matched the one worn by the man.

Mario gasped. "The Shadows Royal!"

The two Royals rose further into the air, revealing the elevator platform they stood on. "Greetings, Mario," spoke the Shadow King with a trace of hatred. "We meet yet again."

"Empress Cyanara has commissioned us to bring you to her," the Shadow Queen added, a taunting in her voice. "Why should you resist? Fighting is futile. Your combined strength is no match for ours."

"You should know by now that I don't just give up," Mario retorted, readying his fists. Luigi nodded angrily to back up his brother's words.

By now the Shadow King and Queen were a good ten feet over the brothers' heads. "Don't even think of defeating us," the King challenged. "We will soon crush your triumphant aspirations to powder beneath the iron heel of the Empress. You will feel the wrath of shadows once again!"

Just as the Shadow King finished pronouncing his threat, the Queen's black eyes gleamed red, and two shadowy bolts of lightning shot down from nowhere and zapped Mario and Luigi, temporarily stunning them. They recovered from the shocks and began hurling fireballs at their enemies, who still stood on the elevator platform. The Queen raised her hand, and a black energy barrier instantly encased the Shadows Royal, deflecting the fireball barrage.

"Die already!" shouted Mario in frustration, striving to penetrate the barrier with still more fireballs.

"_You_ will be the ones to perish!" roared the Shadow King in answer. He reached under his cloak and drew out a huge gleaming sword. "For the glorious Shadow Legion—YOU WILL DIE!!"

With that, the King gripped the Sword in both hands, pointed it at Mario, and channeled his energy into it. Instantly a huge beam of dark energy barreled from the blade. Mario leaped clear just as the beam smashed into the battle platform, literally burning a hole a foot wide through its surface.

"We've gotta get them off that platform!" Mario yelled to Luigi. "As long as they're up there, we'll never be able to touch them!"

"Leave it to me!" Luigi yelled back. He stepped back and began charging up his fireballs in both hands.

Mario realized he'd have to attract attention to himself and draw the Royals' fire or Luigi wouldn't be able to complete his charge-up. He crouched and sprang up the the platform's edge, grasping it tightly with his fingers to keep from falling into the gaping hole left by the Royals' dramatic entry.

"Get down from there!" screamed the Shadow Queen at him as he dangled over the hole.

The Shadow King moved forward and placed the tip of the Aeshma Sword on Mario's fingertips. "Let go, foolish hero!"

"No!" retorted Mario. "I'm gonna get up there and take _both_ of you down!" He struggled to pull himself up.

The King slowly drew the Sword across Mario's unprotected fingers, cutting them open and staining the blade with blood. Mario winced but still refused to let go his grip on the platform's edge.

"Very well, Mario. The Aeshma Sword shall sever your fingers if you insist on this nonsense!" spat the King.

Luigi's charge-up was complete. He held a huge ball of green flames in his hands. "Bro!" he yelled. "LET GO!!"

"Do it already!" Mario yelled back. "Shoot!!"

Up went the Aeshma Sword. The King's face contorted with hatred. "Goodbye, Mario!"

"Grrrr-YAAAAH!" cried Luigi as he unleashed the giant fireball. It flew straight toward Mario's dangling form. "Bro, LET GO!!!"

At the last second, just as the Shadow King swung the Aeshma Sword at his exposed fingers, Mario released his hold on the elevator platform and began falling into the pit below. The Aeshma Sword struck only the platform's edge. Before the King could open his mouth to curse Mario, Luigi's fireball smashed into the barrier around the Royals, shattered it, and totally disintegrated the platform, sending both King and Queen tumbling into the pit after Mario.

Mario crashed into the blue rock of Gritzy Caverns face-first, nearly rendering him unconscious. He groaned, rolled onto his back, and staggered to his feet, wiping some of the dirt and blood from his scratched-up face. Seconds later the Shadows Royal impacted the floor of the Koopaseum sub-caverns and lay in a heap for a moment.

Gritting his teeth, the Shadow King shoved the Queen off his back and hauled himself onto his feet again, still clutching the menacing Aeshma Sword in his right hand. The Shadow Queen sat up, spat the dirt from her mouth, and stood, retaining somewhat of her royal bearing despite her dirtied appearance.

"It would seem your foolish plan has backfired," intoned the Shadow Queen with arrogance. "Two against one is _more_ than impossible odds. It is inconceivable that you alone could defeat us both!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Mario shot back. "I've always wanted to shred you both single-handedly!"

"If the flesh does not frighten you, Mario," threatened the Shadow King, "perhaps the spirit will." He grasped the Queen's hand.

"Allow us to show you our true might!"

With a tremendous rushing noise and a torrent of blackness, the Shadow King and Queen rose into the air and manifested their true forms. Where once had been two demon-possessed humans, there now floated side by side two mammoth demon spirits, each thirty feet tall, their purple ethereal bodies encasing their human vessels. The Shadow King demon wore a tall golden crown on his head, covering his crop of thick white hair. A menacing look flashed across his demonic face. His giant hands, floating on either side of his main body, each grasped a huge half-sword. The Shadow Queen demon was nearly identical in form, except her white hair was long and flowing, and a crafty expression covered her face. She wielded no obvious weapons.

Mario gulped.

"_Now_ do you understand our power?" roared the King demon, his deep male voice booming the the cavernous space beneath the colosseum. "You are a mere nothing to us. Learn your place, slave!"

"You will die with the honor of having seen true terror and power!" hissed the Queen demon. "Now PERISH!!"

The King hurled his two great blades at Mario. Mario ducked, and they flew harmlessly over his head.

"Try improving your aim next time!" Mario shouted up to the towering demon as he got to his feet again.

The King clapped his mammoth hands, and the two blades came flying silently back, directly at Mario's backside. He turned, saw the deadly cleavers whirling straight toward him, and threw himself to the ground again. One of the blades passed over him, but the other, like a flying buzzsaw, cut a gash into the back of Mario's left leg and went tumbling to the floor.

"AAAAH!" Mario rolled over and clutched at the slash wound in his leg, grimacing in pain.

"Weakling," boomed the Shadow King demon.

Mario struggled back to his feet, limping noticeably. He seized the half-sword that had not returned to the King and heaved it up from the ground with both hands, brandishing it with a fiery determination in his eyes.

"Round one goes to you, Shadows Royal. But the match is far from over!"

Immediately Mario rushed the monstrous demons, the half-sword upraised in his hands. The King demon laughed an ominous, rumbling laugh and brought his gigantic right hand down to crush Mario outright. Mario stopped his charge and swung the heavy sword at the fast-falling hand, scoring a direct hit. The King withdrew his hand with a roar of pain.

Without warning, one of the Queen's giant hands swept down and caught Mario from behind, knocking his feet out from under him and sending his weapon clanging to the stone floor. The Queen's hands vanished, and when Mario hit the floor, hundreds of smaller hands rose up from the ground and grabbed him, preventing him from rising.

"Pull him into the Shadows, Dead Hands!" commanded the Shadow Queen. "Let him feel the hidden might of the Shadows Royal!"

Immediately the Dead Hands dragged Mario down through the very surface of the ground and into utter blackness beneath. He could see nothing. His sense of touch, however, was not impaired in the least, as the Dead Hands painfully and relentlessly pummeled him from all sides. At last the Dead Hands dragged Mario back up to the surface and dumped him there, bruised and bleeding. They vanished, and the Queen's two massive hands reappeared.

Mario heaved himself onto his hands and knees, gasping for breath. "Don't...think...you've won. This...isn't...over...yet!" He staggered back to his feet and steadied himself.

The Royals laughed. "You are right, Mario," agreed the Shadow King. "This is _not_ over yet. You are not DEAD yet!"

"I can arrange for that very soon," added the Queen smoothly, almost tauntingly. "I summon the Ring!"

There was a burst of blue light from the Queen's giant left hand, and a golden ring set with a blue stone appeared on her fifth finger.

"The fifth Ring!" gasped Mario. "So _you_ had it!"

"Not only do I _have_ the Turquoise Ring, Mario," corrected the Queen, "but I also intend to use it against you! Feel the power—the unmatchable power of shadows!"

The Turquoise Ring glowed with its blue brilliance, and the Queen summoned a dark lightning bolt that struck the floor directly in front of Mario. The searing strike left behind a blue ooze that began to spread across the floor.

"P-Poison!" cried Mario as he scrambled away from the deadly substance.

"You cannot avoid it forever, Mario," rumbled the King demon. He laughed again. "My queen! Hold nothing back, but let him taste death!"

The Shadow Queen struck Mario dead-on with another lightning bolt, contaminating him with the blue poison. "Gladly."

Mario gasped in pain as the acidic poison ate at his skin and oozed over his body. He staggered and fell to the ground, the world swirling before his eyes. Desperately he tried to rise but could not. "Ungh...gah! Aaaah!" he cried through clenched teeth, feeling the burning pain of the poison. "Can't...lose...like...this! Must...fight...aagh!" He shuddered and tensed in pain.

"Good night, Mario," laughed the Queen demon. "At last we have rid ourselves of you, pathetic troublemaker!"


	14. Breakout

"Grrr...No!" gasped Mario. "I...won't...give in... AAAGH!!" The poison continued to weaken his body as he lay on the floor of the cavern.

"Yes, you will," corrected the Shadow King demon, a wicked smile on his face. "You may as well do it now, weakling!"

Suddenly, silently, a tiny winged figure darted out from behind the Shadow Queen, slipped through the ethereal spirit being up to the human vessel inside, and pulled the Turquoise Ring from her left fifth finger. Immediately the massive Ring on the demon's corresponding finger vanished.

"Wh-What?" exclaimed the Queen demon. "My Rainbow Ring—NOOOO!!"

The winged figure shot away from the Queen and flew straight to Mario. She hovered safely away from the poison coating his body and carefully placed the Turquoise Ring on the correct finger. Instantly the poison was negated and Mario was revitalized. He opened his eyes and stared at the little pink-clad fairy before him.

"Leika!"

"Come on, Mario, get up!" urged the blue-haired fairy. "You can still win!"

Mario leaped easily to his feet, and Leika perched on his right shoulder. "OK, Shadows Royal, time for round three! I'm waiting for you!"

"Curse you, Leika!" roared the Shadow King, clenching his demonic hands into great fists. "You and the rest of the Rainbow Fairies should have all been killed by Zaron those many years ago!"

"A lot of us survived, sorry," Leika answered in mock sadness. "Now it's your turn to get your just reward for your wickedness. I'm going to finish the job the Rainbow Guardians started last time we fought!" She rose into the air and pointed accusingly at the Royals. "You're going DOWN!!"

"We cannot fight her," the King said hastily to the Queen. "She embodies a part of the rainbow power. There is no way for us to destroy her!"

"Then another will have to eliminate her before we can finish Mario," replied the Queen readily. She fixed Mario with a hateful, demonic glare. "Consider this a stalemate, Mario. The Ring is yours." She and the King demon began to fade from view. "But mark my words, slave—you will learn to obey your masters someday!"

Both demon spirits faded away completely, leaving no trace of their presence. Mario heaved a sigh of relief. "Split-second timing, Leika. Another minute or so and I think I'd have been a goner. Thanks."

The fair-skinned fairy blushed. "Not a problem. I'm always ready to help. That's what we fairies do."

Luigi's voice echoed down from above. "Bro! You OK down there?"

"Just fine!" Mario yelled back up through the hole in the platform some forty feet over his head. "Gimme a minute and I'll be right up!"

* * *

Luigi hauled Mario over the edge of the pit. "Sounded like an earthquake down there!" he told Mario with a relieved grin.

"It almost was," Mario replied. "Man, I never want to face down two demons again. I wouldn't have gotten out alive if it weren't for Leika."

"Leika?" Luigi asked in surprise. "She's here?"

Leika darted up out of the hole in the platform. "I certainly am," she replied with a smile.

Luigi's face lit up. "Leika! Wait 'til Peach finds out you're here! She'll probably hug you to death!"

"Then let's go get Peach," Mario suggested, leading the way toward the exit.

As soon as Mario, Luigi, and Leika passed through the colosseum doors into the main hallway, Peach spotted Leika, and she too lit up in recognition. "Leika! It's you!"

"Hello, Princess," Leika greeted her gracefully.

Peach held out her hands, and Leika lighted on them. "It's so good to see you again!" Peach bubbled. "I thought you'd be back at the sky city by now!"

"The elders of Aotearoa commissioned me to return and bring the Rainbow Rings back to the temple where they belong," Leika explained. "I see Mario has five of them now, but where are the other three?"

"Cyanara has them," Peach said gravely.

"Cyanara?" Leika frowned. "Who's that?"

"The Great One, Leika. You know her."

Leika's expression instantly turned to one of fear. "_She_ has them?!"

Peach nodded soberly. "And seven of the Discs _and_ the Rainbow Pendant."

The little fairy paled. "This is unthinkable! For her to gather even _most_ of the rainbow objects is absolutely _unthinkable!!_ She's incredibly close to destroying us all!" Leika was nearly hysterical. "Do you realize what she could do if she managed to get all of them?!"

"The Twilight Disc is missing, Leika," Mario informed her. "_We_ don't even know where it is, let alone Cyanara."

"It was stolen from the castle," Luigi added.

Leika relaxed a little. "That's good. Perhaps she'll never find it." She darted up to Peach's shoulder and seated herself there. "My mission still stands. I am to retrieve the eight Rings at any cost and return them to their temple in Aotearoa, where the Rainbow Fairies can keep a watchful eye on them as before."

"Then on to the next dimension so we can start getting the last three Rings," Mario put in with a trace of eagerness.

Peach gave him the "oh brother" look. "Mario, in case you haven't noticed, it's three o'clock in the morning."

Mario looked crestfallen. "You're saying we should—"

"I'm saying that isn't it about time we got some sleep?" Peach reprimanded him. "I'm about to go to sleep on my feet here!"

"Well, uh..." Mario made a show of looking around the bare anteroom. Not a furnishing of any kind was to be seen. He shrugged helplessly. "...Pick your spot?"

* * *

"...Amber..."

Amber lay propped against the musty stone wall, sound asleep.

"...Amber...wake up..."

The second Guardian stirred. "Hm? Ruby?"

Ruby lay completely still, eyes closed in the darkness of early morning. "...Amber..."

"What?" Quietly Amber crawled over to Ruby's side. "What is it?"

"Amber...I...I'm...dying..." murmured the slowly-fading first Guardian.

"No, Ruby," replied Amber softly but firmly. "Fight it!"

"I...can't...fight..." mumbled Ruby almost inaudibly, "but..."

"No, no, you can!"

"I...can't...but...you... You...and...Sapphire...can..." Ruby managed.

Amber frowned. "What are you saying?"

Ruby forced open chapped lips and spoke two faint words. "...Rainbow...Mix..."

The import of the words struck Amber like a bolt of lightning. Slowly, determinedly, she rose to her feet in the dark cell.

"It's up to me to save Ruby," she said aloud. "She's told me the way—but I have to make it work. I have to get Sapphire in here with Ruby, or..." She trailed off. It seemed impossible.

"Amber."

Amber jumped at the voice and turned to see a Paroidian Guard standing in the doorway, face void of emotion.

"Amber. You are to come with me."

She paled. "No, please! Not back to that cell again—please, NO!"

The guard drew his sword. "Come with me _now._"

Tremblingly Amber obeyed, and the guard led her to the cell adjoining Ruby's and unlocked the door. A burst of frigid air washed over both guard and Guardian as the door opened, making Amber shudder. Without hesitating the guard shoved Amber roughly into the cell and locked the door behind her.

Amber was shivering in the supercooled cell within seconds. Huddling in the far corner, she drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs in a desperate attempt to conserve body heat. The freezing temperature inside her solitary confinement cell did not mix well with her heat-based nature and powers of solar fire.

"I h-have t-to get out-t of h-here," chattered Amber, her breath making clouds in the freezing air, "b-but h-how? R-Ruby needs h-help!"

"Did you say Ruby?" came a faint female voice from the right-hand wall.

"I-Is that y-you, C-Citrine?" shivered Amber.

"Yes."

"C-Can you b-break m-me out of-f h-here?"

"My cell is all wood," answered Citrine. "My electricity is useless against wood."

"T-Then overl-load the c-circuits and-d d-destroy th-the c-cooling m-mechanism in h-here!"

"I'll try." There was a long silence, and Amber huddled further into the corner, absolutely frozen. It was a wonder she didn't turn to ice, it was so cold.

Suddenly there was a popping, sparking noise over Amber's head, and all of the lights went out. The cooling mechanism in Amber's cell shut down but was not destroyed.

"Figures," spat Citrine in disgust. "Overloaded the main system. The whole fortress is offline."

Amber waited for her internal heat to build back up, then stood. "Thanks, Citrine."

"Whatever you're doing, do it fast. Cyanara will have the generator running again in no time."

"OK." Amber looked around her cell. "I need sunlight. With it I could easily melt my way out." She moved to the rear of the cell and ran her fingers over the still-icy steel wall.

Her fingers caught against something. It felt like an overlapping plate of steel. She ran her fingers along the edge, then to the right, down again, back to the side, up again. It was an overlapping plate—a plate of steel added to the cell seemingly as an afterthought, after the rest had already been built.

"It's a long shot, but worth trying," Amber said with a shrug and proceeded to pry at the plate's edges. Soon she discovered that one of its corners was loose and concentrated her efforts there. She could feel the rivets coming loose as she pried at the unfastened corner. A mixture of fear and excitement gripped her—fear that she might be discovered, excitement that she was nearing her goal.

Suddenly the plate tore away from the wall and lay loose in her hands. A stream of light from the eastern horizon poured in through Amber's new window.

"Yes!" Amber nearly skipped for joy. "They must have covered the window before putting me in here to keep me from getting any sunlight. Now to get to Ruby!"

Amber stood in the path of the sunlight and faced the sun. She looked directly at it, not squinting or closing her eyes—instead she smiled as if welcoming the warming rays. As the sunlight fell on her face, she began to glow with the fiery orange radiance of the sun itself. A few seconds more and her entire body burst into flames, flames that neither harmed her nor scorched her clothing. She had become a living torch, encased in a pillar of fire.

"Ah, that feels so good," sighed Amber in delight. "Now, first things first." She looked up at the cooling mechanism on the ceiling. Raising her hand, she shot a wave of flames at the machine and instantly melted it into a worthless pile of scrap.

"There, no more turning me into a popsicle," she told it in satisfaction. Just then the lights flickered back on. "And not a moment too soon. Now to get Citrine out." She raised her voice. "Citrine, move to the rear of your cell!"

"Why?" came the indifferent response.

"I'm going to melt you out!"

"In that case..." Citrine was silent for a few moments. "Ready."

Without another word, the blazing Amber put out both hands and poured a torrent of fire at the steel wall. It melted the steel like butter and burned easily through the wood layered over the interior of Citrine's cell.

Stopping the fiery blast, Amber moved out of the sunlight, and her body ceased to flame. Citrine came through the still-smoking hole and entered Amber's cell.

"Thanks." Citrine's expression was flat and somewhat aloof, as usual. She turned to the door of Amber's cell, critiquing it silently.

"This door should be no problem to open from the inside." The third Guardian moved to the door, placed a hand on the confining steel, and shot her electricity through the conductive material into the door's locking mechanism. Instantly a shower of sparks flew out from the crack between door and wall, and the lock shorted out, unlocking the door.

"Simple," Citrine affirmed with a nod.

"Can you get the others out?" Amber requested. "They all need to be here. In this cell."

"Why here?" queried Citrine, raising an eyebrow.

Amber looked straight at Citrine. "Rainbow Mix."

Now Citrine's other eyebrow went up. "Amber..."

"It's for Ruby, Citrine," Amber said hastily. "There's no time to explain but it could save her life. Please!"

Citrine hesitated, then nodded briefly and went out the unlocked door, shutting it behind her.

* * *

"M-Master, please! Allow me to explain—"

"I'm not interested in feeble excuses." Cyanara turned her back to the pleading technician and coldly issued a single command to the guards holding him. "Execute him."

"N-No! NO! Please, NOOOOO!! MASTER! LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE!!" screamed the doomed man as the guards dragged him from the throne room. The silver doors shut behind them with an echoing boom, cutting off the sound of his hysteric cries.

Cyanara remained standing with her back to the doors, face smoldering with a silent anger. "Pathetic." Her black eyes narrowed to mere slits. "Athos and Amethyst cannot resist my mind-control devices forever. They are not _that_ strong. And all that fool can come up with is excuses—equipment failure, lazy assistants, not enough time!" She smashed her fist into her palm. "I'll perform the mental overwrite _myself._ If that imbecile can't do the job, then _I_ will!"

* * *

Minutes after Citrine's escape, six Guardians were assembled in Amber's cell. Ruby lay on the steel floor, barely conscious, struggling for every breath. The others were clustered on the floor around her. Amber explained Ruby's request.

"Ruby believes that if she and Sapphire perform Rainbow Mix, her mind will no longer be affected by the evil within this fortress." Amber looked at Sapphire. "Are you willing?"

The quite, passive, dark blue-haired sixth Guardian nodded. "If it will save her, yes."

"Then why are all the rest of us here?" demanded green-haired Emerald in her childish voice.

Amber shot her a warning look. "Would you rather stay in your cell?"

Emerald was silent.

"The truth is," Amber continued, "if we all perform the Mix, our combined strength could get us out of the fortress entirely."

Aquamarine looked thoughtful, her head inclined to one side, light blue hair cascading down one shoulder. "You mean that not only should Ruby and Sapphire merge, but that Emerald and I should as well, and—"

"Can't." Citrine was short and to the point. "Amethyst is my merging companion. And she's not here."

"Then only Ruby and Sapphire will merge. Perhaps later we will be able to get Amethyst here with us." Amber stood, letting the sun fall on her back. Within seconds her entire body was ablaze. "Sapphire, do your thing!"

Sapphire concentrated on Amber, and suddenly the heat being thrown off from Amber's body was bent back toward Amber as Sapphire used her powers of energybending to concentrate the heat around her sister. Amber's temperature climbed rapidly. In just minutes it rose to over 900,000,000 degrees Celsius.

"Almost—there!" cried Amber as she strained her solar power to the limit, building up heat in the "greenhouse" created by Sapphire. Her face was stretched in a taut grimace, squeezing every available bit of heat out into the layer of flame blazing over her body.

Suddenly the inferno covering Amber burst into brilliant white radiance. Amber's temperature had peaked at the critical one billion degrees, triggering a nuclear fusion reaction that released the immense power of the atomic nucleus. Sapphire struggled to hold the torrent of power back.

The sixth Guardian seized the dying Ruby's hand. "Now!" she cried as she released her hold on the energy. Instantly it formed into a brilliant white beam and shot directly toward Sapphire and Ruby, striking the two at their joined hands. An intense light engulfed the two Guardians as the immensely powerful Rainbow Mix was triggered.

The blinding light surrounding Ruby and Sapphire lasted for only a few seconds; and when it died away, there were no longer two separate Guardians, but one, with hair shining red on one side and shimmering royal blue on the other. Her appearance was as if someone had put Ruby and Sapphire together to form a whole new being.

Amber cooled down and ceased to burn. "How do you feel, Ruby?" she asked anxiously.

The fused Guardian spoke in Ruby's voice. "...I am fine. My mind is regaining its strength. Thank you, Amber."

"Thank goodness," Amber sighed in relief. "I was afraid we'd lose you."

"Well," said the newly-formed Guardian, still in Ruby's voice, "we can leave any time. Citrine's made that possible."

"That's true, Corundum," answered Aquamarine, "but Cyanara—"

"My shielding powers can and will protect all of us," Corundum assured her.

"But Amethyst—"

"Yes, Amethyst." The Ruby/Sapphire fusion named Corundum pondered a moment, then spoke in Sapphire's voice. "We can't just abandon her to the Empress."

"I say we wait here," spoke up Citrine. "Cyanara is bound to bring Amethyst here to the confinement cells if she's caught. And if she doesn't show for a while, we'll go looking for her. We'll need all the power we can get in order to escape."

"I agree," Corundum responded. "Let's wait this one out. Perhaps we'll have an opportunity to strike at the Empress."

* * *

Mario yawned, stretched, and sat up, rubbing his eyes as he did so. He looked across the Koopaseum's green-and-gold anteroom and saw Luigi's sleeping form contorted into a seemingly painful position, one which made Mario wince just to look at it.

"He's gonna be awfully sore when he wakes up," Mario commented with an "oh, well" written across his face. Then he looked over to the sleeping Princess. She was lying on her side in flawless posture, as if she were in her bed at the castle and not on an entryway floor. Mario smiled as he gazed at Peach. But his smile was not elicited by her beauty. Instead, he nearly chuckled aloud as he noticed that Peach's head was resting on a very sleepless and uncomfortable Toadsworth!

"Enough sleeping, you guys," Mari announced, standing to his feet and stretching again. "Time to get up!"

Peach stirred and turned over, making Toadsworth groan painfully. Her eyes opened about halfway. "Hm? Morning already?"

Luigi snored on, completely oblivious to Mario's wake-up call.

"It was morning when we went to sleep, Peach," Mario chuckled. "Yes, it's time to get up. We've got to move on."

The Princess sat up and rubbed the sleep from her blue eyes. Toadsworth gasped in relief as she removed her weight from his stomach. "I dare say," he wheezed, feebly shaking a finger at Peach, "I shall never again volunteer as the Princess's pillow! OH, my aching back—OHHH!!"

"Oh—did I hurt you, Toadsworth?" asked Peach in concern.

"No, Your Highness," corrected the steward as he lay prone on the floor. "You've nearly _killed_ these poor old bones! I shall _never_ recover from last night!"

Peach helped Toadsworth to his feet. He tottered a bit as he attempted to walk. "Hmph, it appears I am still in working order," he grumbled, "but still—never again will I volunteer as the Princess's—"

"All right, Toadsworth, we get the point!" exclaimed an exasperated Peach. "I know you're not a morning person, but _please_ stop your grumbling!"

"Luigi!" called Mario. "Wake up!"

Luigi's curled-up form instantly uncoiled like a twisted spring, going full length in less than a second. He screamed and scrambled over to the wall, huddling there and shaking in fright.

Mario rolled his eyes.

"A g-g-ghost w-was c-c-coming after m-m-me!" Luigi cried.

"Another nightmare about getting eaten by ghosts, huh?" Mario guessed in frustration. "Get over your fear, Luigi. We're gonna see plenty more ghosts in our lifetimes, so get used to them."

Shakily Luigi got to his feet. "O-OK."

"Good." Mario pulled DT from his pocket and activated the little machine with the Turquoise Ring. In moments a glimmering indigo portal opened in front of him.

"Amazing," Leika murmured. "But why are you using this method of travel? Don't you usually just...walk?"

"Walking's a bit overrated these days," Mario answered dryly.

Peach rolled her eyes. "What he means is that the Mushroom Kingdom has been split into eight dimensions. The Rainbow Rings activate this Dimensional Transport Device and allow us to get to other dimensions."

"And Cyanara did this, too?" questioned Leika. "Don't even answer—I just know she did! All the more reason for us to get rid of her! Let's go!"

"Now proceeding to Indigo Dimension," droned DT in his mechanized monotone.

"Yahoo!" yelled Mario as he took a great leap forward through the shimmering portal.

* * *

Cyanara's black eyes blazed at the two figures before her. She smashed her fist onto the arm of her throne. "Failed? You, who claim such power, whose sworn enemy is Mario—you have _failed?!_"

The Shadows Royal, back in their human forms by this time, both wore expressions of defeat. "It was not Mario who bested us, Great One," explained the Shadow King. "If only _he_ had tried to overcome us, we would have crushed him. It was that pesky Rainbow Fairy Leika that interfered."

"Do you mean to tell me," interjected Cyanara, rising threateningly from her throne, "that that troublesome fairy Leika, whose rainbow power is pathetically _weak,_ actually _scared you off??_"

"If another were to rid us of the Rainbow Fairy," stated the Queen, avoiding the question, "we and the third would have no trouble bringing Mario to you."

"Diamond is already in Indigo Dimension, preparing to take on Mario herself." The Empress resumed her seat. "She should be able to exterminate Leika easily." Her black eyes narrowed. "You speak of the third. Are you intending—"

"Yes," answered the King. "He will be _most_ helpful."

"And what of the fourth?" questioned Cyanara. "Have you not found a suitable vessel?"

"The Queen has housed the fourth soul within her own vessel for the time being," replied the King. "No vessel has been found."

"Then I know just the one," Cyanara informed him with a crafty smile. "As a matter of fact, I brought her here for that very purpose. I've promised her a little 'present.'" She laughed softly to herself. "I believe you know what I'm talking about."

The Queen's red eyes lit up. "You have prepared a vessel?" She smiled in wicked anticipation. "When shall we have its use?"

"As soon as I take care of some unfinished business in the mind-control room," replied the Empress. She rose from her imperial throne. "It shouldn't take long."


	15. Diamond

Mario hopped out of the indigo portal and nearly fell off a sheer cliff not three feet from it. Peach stepped through the portal next, and Mario put out a hand to stop her from moving too close to the edge. She nodded, gently pushed his hand down, and stepped up next to him, gazing down from her vantage point on the scenery below. A vast glistening glacier spread out before her eyes, stretching into the distance until it reached its limit and gave way to towering pine forests.

Luigi, Leika, and Toadsworth exited the portal just before it closed. The green-capped plumber nearly went over the cliff despite Mario's warning. "Whoa!" He backed away from the cliff, shivering as the wind bit ferociously at him and the others.

Peach seemed deep in thought. Mario studied her face for a moment. "Peach, what is it?"

She furrowed her brow. "I know this place," she answered. "I've seen this view before. What escapes me is the name of the place. I just can't remember it..."

"Don't worry about it," Mario consoled her. "We'll find out later, more than likely. Come on." He turned away from the cliff to see an icy granite peak stabbing into the overcast sky behind them. "Hey, wait a minute! Isn't that─"

"It's Star Mountain!" exclaimed Peach, gazing at the lofty summit far above them. "I _knew_ I'd been here before!"

"Man, how are we supposed to find a Rainbow Ring on _that_ huge thing?" Luigi asked.

"I've got an idea of where it might be already, now that I know where we are," Leika informed them. "There is a hidden rainbow shrine on this mountain. The first and most logical place to look would be there."

"And you know where this shrine is?" Mario asked.

Leika nodded.

"Good. We'll let you lead out, since you know where you're going. Are you coming or staying, Peach?"

Peach smiled at him. "You couldn't talk me into staying behind, not in a thousand years, Mario. It's been forever since I last went mountain climbing, and I want to see this secret shrine anyhow!"

"It's a long climb, Princess," warned Leika.

"I'm up to it."

"Never!" spluttered Toadsworth. "A princess going mountain climbing? Preposterous! Absurd! Absolutely unladylike!"

"You're not going to stop me, Toadsworth," retorted Peach. "I'm going, so you may as well live with it!"

"OUTRAGEOUS!!!" Toadsworth would have grabbed Princess Peach if Luigi hadn't grabbed _him_ first.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to stay here and keep this animal under control," Luigi grunted as he clutched Toadsworth in his arms to prevent the struggling steward from escaping.

"Master Luigi, take your hands off me THIS INSTANT! I DEMAND that you let me go!" shouted Toadsworth.

"That might be a good idea, Luigi," agreed Mario, referring to Luigi's offer. He smiled at Peach. "Looks like we get to climb together."

She smiled back. "I can't wait!"

"Looks like _I_ get the role of chaperone," Leika said with a playful shake of her finger. "I see that smile!"

Mario pretended to ignore the fairy's scolding. "Lead out, Leika. We've got a mountain to climb!"

* * *

The black-eyed Empress stepped into the dim, dungeon-like mind-control room. Her sinister gaze fell on the legions of machinery along the wall, then on the helpless figure pinned to the steel table before her.

"Well, if it isn't the little resistor in my electric circuit," Cyanara said aloud while seating herself at the main computer. A bizarre steel helmet with countless wires protruding from it lay atop the massive computer tower to her right. An identical helmet was fastened to the skull of the victim on the table.

"I resist because I must," was Athos's grim reply. "Amethyst does the same."

"Hmph," Cyanara scoffed as she began entering endless commands into the system at her fingertips. "Once I overwrite _your_ brain, traitor, I'll have _you_ perform the overwrite on Amethyst. It will serve you right for your blatant betrayal of me!"

"I will not permit that to happen," retorted Athos. "Your scientists and machines have worked for over two days to overcome me with no success. Do you truly think you will have any more chance than they?"

She turned and fixed him with her icy stare. "I do."

"I will not allow it," Athos repeated emphatically.

"Your will won't last long against mine," answered Cyanara, fitting the second steel helmet over her own head. "This time no mere machine is going to do the fighting."

Athos looked shocked. "You...y-you...!"

"That's right," said the Empress with a smile. "My incompetent assistants used computers to attempt the overwrite. I've reworked the system to route the mental signal directly from my mind to yours.

Athos steeled himself. "A mental tug-of-war? So be it."

Cyanara shook her head in mock sympathy. "You always wanted to tussle with me, didn't you, Athos? Always wanted to show me just what you thought of my great plan...the plan _you_ helped create." She looked back at the control panel, and her hand moved to the _on_ switch.

"Do your worst," Athos spat.

Cyanara, her hand still resting on the switch, looked again at her erstwhile servant, and her red lips parted in a cruel, condemning smile.

"You don't need to tell me that, Athos," she said quietly, and her expression turned ugly. "I plan to."

The next instant she snapped the switch on, plunging the two into a vicious mental battle, a battle for Athos's very consciousness. Athos's face went taut, and sweat broke out on his forehead.

Cyanara smiled.

* * *

"M...Mario?" wheezed Peach as she scaled the last rock between her and the plumber. The wind whipped around the two, voraciously tearing at their clothes and skin. The overcast sky looked gray and threatening.

"What?" he shouted over the wind.

"It's nearly dark," she called back loudly, although Mario was scarcely two feet away.

Mario nodded. "Are you OK?"

"Just tired," she responded. "Shouldn't we head back? We've been scouring this mountain all day and haven't found a thing?"

Leika, beating her fairy's wings with a fury to keep from being blown away, yelled back in her musical voice, "I told you it was hard to find! Even I get lost up here sometimes!"

"Leika, we have to go back," Mario shouted. "We can't stay up here all night!"

Suddenly the rock beneath them lurched sickeningly, sending Mario's heart into his throat and knocking both him and Peach to their knees. He snatched at Peach's hand and caught it as she started slipping. "Hang on tight!" he yelled above the howling wind.

"I-I'm slipping!" cried Peach. Her pink dress, not particularly suited for mountaineering, was causing her to slide on her knees down the now-tipped rock slab toward a long drop down the side of the mountain. Despite her grip on Mario's hand, her knees continued to slide out from under her.

Within moments Peach's knees gave way completely, sending her onto her stomach and letting her feet dangle over the edge of the chasm. Her face registered a desperate terror. "Mario! Help!" she screamed over the rushing wind.

Mario's grip on her hand began to slip. "I can't─hang on! Peach!"

"Princess!" screamed Leika.

Mario's hand gave out, and he involuntarily let go his hold. Peach screamed and dropped into the abyss below.

"PEACH!!!"

Peach fell twenty feet and suddenly jerked to a stop. A strong hand grasped her flailing one, and she hung suspended in mid-air for a moment, stunned by her fall.

An unfamiliar face appeared over her head, apparently from a hidden ledge. The stranger's golden locks tumbled out from under her gray hood. "Are you all right?"

"I think so," Peach shouted back.

"Hang on; I'll pull you up!" The stranger reached down her other hand, seized Peach's arm, and slowly heaved her up onto the ledge. The Princess sat down heavily, gulping in tremendous lungfuls of the rare mountain air. In a moment she looked up into the face of her savior.

The stranger was clad in a thick, white, long-sleeved top and a blue multi-layered skirt. Over it all was a soft gray cloak which she clutched about her. The cloak's hood served to keep her head warm in the chill wind but allowed her blond hair to spill out a little. Her fair cheeks were red and windburned.

"Thank you," Peach said gratefully.

Her rescuer was silent, looking down at the lady she'd saved. She possessed almost a dignity about her petite frame, yet a fear seemed to overshadow her. She fingered the folds of her cloak nervously, never taking her eyes off Peach.

Peach rose to her feet. "What's your name?" she asked kindly, sensing her benefactor's nervousness.

The stranger hesitated, avoiding Peach's eyes, and remained silent. For a grown woman she certainly seemed unsure of herself. Turning, she fled from Peach into what appeared to be a small torch-lit cave carved into the mountainside. Peach followed, curious about her new acquaintance.

No sooner had Peach entered the little cave than Mario rushed up to her from within and grabbed her in a bear hug. "Peach! You're alive!" he exclaimed joyously.

"M-Mario?" Peach stammered in surprise, allowing herself to be hugged. "H-How did _you_ get here?"

"That would be the fault of the mysterious girl in gray," replied Mario, releasing the Princess from his arms. He turned to see the girl timidly approaching them through the torchlight. Leika was with her.

The mysterious girl looked at Peach with vacillating eyes. "Y-You are all welcome to stay the night here, with─with me," she hesitantly invited, gesturing around her at the sparsely-furnished cave. "In the morning─I will take you to the Sanctum."

"You know where we're going?" Mario inquired.

"The fairy Leika has told me everything." The girl waited nervously for an answer.

"I don't see why not," Peach replied. "We really don't have much choice now. We'll never make it back down the mountain by nightfall."

Their hostess pointed out the single bed against the cave wall. "P-Please, Princess Peach, take it. I will─I will sleep on the ground."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't take your bed," protested Peach.

The girl, for all her timidity, remained unmovable. She lay down against the wall and covered herself with her cloak.

Peach sighed. "If you insist. Thank you." She lay down on the bed and pulled the single blanket over her. Leika settled on top of the blanket, and both princess and fairy were soon fast asleep. Mario shrugged and lay down against the wall opposite the girl in gray. He watched her from beneath half-closed lids as she drifted off to sleep.

_Strange girl,_ Mario thought to himself. _For some reason I get the feeling she's got something to hide. I wonder..._ He yawned and dropped off to sleep.

* * *

Peach awoke the following morning feeling rested. She sat up and looked over at the mysterious girl in gray. The girl, rather than being asleep still, was sitting against the wall, gazing down at something in her hands. Peach, trying to see the object of her hostess's gaze, caught a gleam of silver.

Suddenly the girl looked up, started when she saw Peach, and quickly closed her hands over the object. The uncanny fear of yesterday flowed back into her face.

"What is that?" inquired Peach curiously.

The girl shoved the item under her cloak and remained silent, shivering nervously.

Peach rose from the bed and went over to the timid girl, seating herself next to her. The girl's breathing became rapid and shuddering, and she stared straight ahead at the opposite wall, unwilling to look at Peach. Peach put a hand on her arm, surprised at her behavior.

"It's all right," she assured her. "You don't have to hide. Just tell me the truth. I'd really like to know what that was."

"I-It's nothing," managed the girl with a shiver. Quickly she got to her feet and disappeared outside the cave.

Peach's heart groaned. "I feel sorry for that poor girl," she said softly. "It seems to me that she thinks she can't trust anyone. I wish she'd open up and let me help her." She sighed. "She's so...timid, and yet she has a grace about her that makes me wonder..." The Princess pushed back her thoughts and rose to awaken Mario.

* * *

"Grrrr...agh!" grunted Athos, straining against the mental barrage coming from Cyanara's mind. "Ungh!"

"We've been going at this all night, traitor Athos," stated the completely unfatigued Empress. "You're stronger than I expected. But you're giving in to me─ever so slowly, you're giving in."

"I...am...not!" Athos managed. "I will fight still!"

"I might have guessed that the genius who helped formulate my master plan would be of strong mind and strong will," continued Cyanara.

"I am no longer yours to use!" cried Athos. "I will fight the plan to the death! It threatens the lives of innocent millions!" He glared at Cyanara as he heaved and struggled against the onslaught. "And you are nothing but a cruel dictator wishing to enslave the world under your tyrannical rule!"

"Tyrannical?" The Empress's eyes blazed. "Perhaps so." Her hand moved to the signal amplifier dial on the mind-control server. "But let's see if you won't take back those words of yours once I'm through with you!"

Cyanara spun the dial to the right, multiplying the signal strength tenfold. Athos's face went taut under the strain of fighting it.

"Let's see how long you last against _that,_ traitor," spat Cyanara. "And when I'm through with you...Amethyst will suffer the same fate."

* * *

The girl in gray timidly reentered the cave. "Are─Are you all ready to leave?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Mario replied.

Without a word the girl turned and led the little group out onto the rock ledge outside the cave. The wind was no less fierce on this day as it had been on the last, for it still stung their exposed faces. The girl pointed up a nearly-vertical fifty-foot wall of granite on their left.

"It is a difficult climb," she admitted, "but it is the only way to the Sanctum."

"Then let's have at it!" Mario answered eagerly.

Their timid guide moved to the rock wall and turned briefly. "The Princess should come after me, with Mario behind her." So saying, she fitted her delicate hands into the crevices in the rock and began the long upward climb.

"Do exactly as I do," she called down. "It is the only safe way."

Peach gulped a little and started up after the girl in gray, Leika flying along beside her. Mario began his climb shortly after Peach did hers.

For nearly an hour they climbed slowly toward the top. The girl in gray was forced to stop and wait for her followers to catch up several times. Obviously she was a far more experienced climber than they. The bitter wind threatened to catch the climbers and fling them from the rock to a crashing death at the foot of the mountain, and their exposed hands nearly froze to the rock face in the cold of the heights. But they struggled on through it all and at last gained the top of the cliff.

Reaching down, the girl in gray pulled Peach up the last foot or so onto a wide ledge at the cliff top. Mario managed to get up without assistance, and Leika simply flew up over the edge. She hadn't climbed an inch. Mario eyed her wings jealously.

The mysterious girl pointed across the ledge. There, carved from the very rock of Star Mountain, was a mammoth temple, nearly invisible due to the huge rocky projections on either side of the path leading to it.

"Rainbow Sanctum," she called over the wind.

"It's huge," breathed Peach, momentarily stunned by the size of the temple.

"Come on," called Leika as she darted forward toward the entrance, maneuvering skillfully between the rocky outcrops that walled in the narrow passage leading to the temple. Mario and Peach followed.

Peach was the last to enter the Sanctum. Turning, she began to ask their guide a question─then noticed with a start that there was no one there. Peach stared.

"Hello?"

No answer. Only the empty howl of the wind across the mountain answered her.

"She...she just...disappeared..." Peach frowned. "Another mystery from the girl in gray..." She looked about again for the girl, and, not finding her, gave up and entered the Sanctum.

The shutting of the door echoed through Rainbow Sanctum's vast empty space as Mario, Peach, and Leika looked around the huge room in awe. The towering wall were washed with the hues of the rainbow, with red at the top progressing to black at the bottom. The floor was pure crystal, so clean and transparent it seemed almost liquid. In each of the mammoth room's four corners stood a giant pillar, each polished to a mirror sheen. And in the very center, dwarfed by the gigantean proportions of the rest of the room, was a single crystal pedestal, sparkling in the ambient light. Atop this crystalline pedestal sat a plush red velvet cushion, and in the center of this cushion, floating motionless an inch above it as if magically suspended there, was the sixth Rainbow Ring, its rich indigo gem gleaming brightly. The Turquoise Ring on Mario's left fifth finger glowed brilliant blue in response to its proximity to the new Ring.

"It's the sixth Ring!" exclaimed Mario, dashing forward. Suddenly he screeched to a halt a few feet from the pedestal. A thought had struck him.

"Wait a minute..." Mario scrutinized the Ring. "This is just too easy. No way would Cyanara just leave this Ring lying out here for me unless there was a catch here..."

Again Mario stepped toward the pedestal, more cautiously this time. Again he examined that sixth Rainbow Ring with keen eyes. Everything seemed normal; so he reached out his hand and took it.

Tried to, anyway.

It wouldn't budge.

A look of disbelief crossed Mario's face, and he tugged at the hovering Ring. Still it remained unmovable.

The next thing Mario knew he'd been smacked backward by what felt like an invisible hand slapping his face. He stumbled, off-balance, then recovered himself, and, staring at the Ring, saw that _there was no one there._

A voice came from the Ring's immediate left─a familiar, derisive female voice. "Things like the Rainbow Rings aren't nearly as easy to just pick up and walk away with as you might like Mario. They require a certain...dominance to acquire."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a woman appeared on the Ring's left. Her hair was coal black, and an expression of crafty amusement was written on her face. She wore the rainbow robe of the Rainbow Guardians, but with one major difference. Across her waist, interrupting the pattern of rainbow colors, was a bold black stripe. And on her left fourth finger she wore that mysteriously "floating" sixth Ring.

"Diamond!" rang out Mario's voice in accusation.

Diamond lifted her hand delicately from the velvet cushion and examined the Ring on her finger as if curious, eyeing Mario seductively as she did. "Some people just never learn when enough is enough," she said smoothly. "You and Princess Peach have resisted the Great One _far_ too long, Mario. Isn't it time you faced reality and submitted to her plan for this world?" Her hand fell to her side, and her black eyes turned evil.

"Mom!" cried Peach. "Mom, snap out of it! You're not acting like your old self!" She was crying by this time. She'd thought her mother was dead─killed in the collapse of the Great One's fortress nearly two weeks ago. "Please, Mom, whatever evil has a hold on your heart, fight it! Come back! Come back to me!"

Diamond's eyes pierced Peach through with hatred. "_Mother?_ I am _not_ your mother, Princess Peach," she answered, spitting the last two words out in disgust, "and I don't plan to treat you as my daughter, either." Instantly a long, slightly curved sword─a katana─appeared out of thin air in Diamond's hand. "You'll feel the same pain that Mario will."

"MOM!" screamed Peach desperately. "You never were truly evil! You have to fight _yourself!_ Don't give in to the evil inside you!"

"Enough of this nonsense," spat Diamond. "I am NOT your mother! Now DIE!!"

Diamond instantly vanished from sight as she ended her battle cry. Mario turned and ran for the sanctum wall, pressing his back into the corner. Having fought Diamond before, he knew exactly what she was capable of when using her powers of invisibility.

A razor-sharp shuriken came out of nowhere and sang past Mario's left ear, missing it by millimeters. He jerked his head away from the deadly projectile and readied his fists.

"Next time I won't be so merciful as to miss purposely." Diamond's voice was cold and calculating. "You would be far better of if you would simply surrender."

"Never!" Mario retorted.

"Remember what happened last time we fought, in Rainbow Temple, Mario?" questioned Diamond relentlessly, her voice moving as if she were pacing back and forth before her prey like a hungry cat. "It took your entire party of thirteen to barely defeat me. How in the _world_ do you expect to do the same─alone?"

"I'll do it─somehow!"

"Think again." Diamond suddenly reappeared directly in front of Mario, her katana less than an inch from his throat. Mario froze. Peach gasped, and her hands flew to her mouth.

"Mario!"

"Boasts are only empty words unless you back them up," Diamond informed her opponent haughtily, keeping her weapon at his throat. "Let's see you prove your boldness _now,_ hm?"

Slowly, imperceptibly, Mario raised his foot over Diamond's while keeping his eyes locked with hers. "Listen, Diamond. I don't care how powerful you think you are." Diamond's eyes raged, and Mario grinned mentally. He had her full attention now. "You're nothing but a stooge to Cyanara. She could care less about you. She's just using you!"

"I'll teach you to disrespect me!" exploded Diamond. Nothing but an insult to her status and abilities could have evoked such a violent response from the evil eighth Guardian, normally the epitome of self-controlled deliberation. Up went the katana as Diamond prepared to brain Mario with her blade.

_STOMP_

Diamond yelled in pain. Her katana clanged to the floor, and she clutched at her left foot, which Mario had nearly crushed with his powerful stomp. Instantly Mario sped past her, snatching up the katana and swinging it at its owner.

Again Diamond disappeared and dodged the blade just in time. Mario, watching carefully for his powerful foe, suddenly saw two kunai blades appear out of thin air, held by the invisible Guardian. Diamond was going to use her deadly twin knives on him.

The kunais whizzed through the air, one at a time, directly at Mario. He deflected the first with Diamond's katana, but the second ripped a long cut along his left arm. He clutched the wound and grimaced.

Now Leika came alive, firing colorful beams of rainbow energy randomly about the Sanctum. Though invisible, Diamond was still vulnerable to attack, and she was kept busy dodging the ricocheting beams for a while, giving Mario a chance to recover.

"Show your face, Diamond!" Mario challenged at length, having recovered from the wound he had received earlier.

Diamond's almost-haunting voice echoed through the Sanctum's empty space. "Very well─but you may not like what you see, Mario."

Suddenly Mario could see the sixth Rainbow Ring in mid-air on Diamond's invisible finger, glowing with an indigo radiance. Then the Ring seemed to duplicate itself and become two, the copy floating to a spot about three feet from the original. Then Diamond again became visible.

"No way!" spluttered Mario. "The Ring─"

"It gets better," Diamond said with an evil smile. She motioned to the copy Ring, and suddenly _another_ Diamond appeared, exactly identical to the real Diamond, Rainbow Ring and all!

"The Tanzanite Ring's power of mirror imaging is most useful," added Diamond in explanation. "If you don't care for one of me, I'm sure you'll enjoy two!"

Both Diamond and her copy rushed the stunned Mario, pinning him to the wall. The real Diamond gave the copy a brief command, and the copy turned toward Peach with a glimmer of hatred in her eyes.

Mario gasped. "No! Don't touch her!"

The copy Diamond's hand flicked, and a single shuriken sliced into Peach's right arm. She screamed in pain; then an expression of desperation crossed her face. She choked and fell to her knees, then collapsed onto her face.

"What did you _do_ to her?!" demanded Leika.

"Just my special sleeping shuriken," Diamond informed the fairy while holding Mario against the wall. "It will keep her unconscious until you defeat me─and if you don't do it soon, the poor Princess will bleed to death," she added with mock sympathy.

"Let me go!" cried Mario, struggling against Diamond's overwhelming strength.

Diamond wrenched her katana from Mario's hand and pushed its tip against his Adam's apple, choking him. "Let's see you get out of _this_ the way you did the last time," she spat through clenched teeth. "You can't do it."

Leika darted down and zapped Diamond with a beam of rainbow light. The eighth Guardian only looked up and swatted Leika as she might a pesky fly, sending the fairy crashing to the crystalline floor, stunned.

"No way out this time, Mario," hissed Diamond, preparing to drive her katana through his throat. Her eyes blazed with hatred. "This victory is MINE!!"


	16. A Mother's Legacy

Just as Diamond was about to run Mario through with her katana, something grabbed her and ripped her away from her intended victim. Mario watched in amazement as Diamond was pulled kicking and screaming to the center of the Sanctum and held paralyzed in mid-air over the crystal pedestal, suspended by some mysterious force. Then a brilliant white beam struck Diamond from behind, encasing her in a field of white light and making her scream in agony. The copy Diamond vanished instantly.

The black-haired ninja fighter screamed hysterically. "N-Nooooo! AAAGH! DIAMOND—STOP! AAAUUUUUUGGH!!!"

Another female voice rang out from behind the screaming Guardian. "No, Onyx. You are receiving your just reward, you impostor!"

Mario edged along the wall to the Sanctum door. From this point he could see a woman standing behind Diamond, or Onyx, or whoever was being punished. This newcomer was pouring her energy into the white beam that was forever tormenting the screaming victim. Her flowing hair was white as snow, and her robes were rainbow-hued except for a white band across her waist. Mario stared at the scene.

The black-haired screaming Diamond—or was it Onyx? Mario wasn't sure anymore. At any rate, he watched spellbound as she gave one last horrifying, bloodcurdling scream and disintegrated under the force of the white-haired one's beam of light. The Tanzanite Ring pinged to the floor. Shutting off her flow of energy, the white-haired woman picked up the Ring and approached Mario.

"Wh-Who are you?" Mario asked uncertainly, edging closer to the still-unconscious Princess Peach.

The woman smiled slightly. "I am Diamond, eighth Guardian of the Rainbow."

"Huh?" Mario's face betrayed puzzlement. "But I thought—wasn't she—the eighth—"

"Her name is Onyx, a trained assassin and mimic. Cyanara hired her to impersonate me and obtain the eight Rainbow Discs. Obviously she failed." The woman smiled fully. "I am the _true_ eighth Guardian."

"Then you must be—" Mario broke off and stared again.

Leaving Mario to his staring, the true Diamond moved quietly to the unconscious Peach, knelt down, and gently plucked the shuriken from her arm. Peach stirred.

"Peach," said Diamond softly.

Peach turned over onto her back, and her eyes fluttered open. She caught her breath as she saw Diamond's face.

"M-Mom?!"

"I'm here, dear. Everything's all right."

"MOM!!" Peach sat up and flung her arms around her mother, crying tears of joy as she did. "It's you! It's really _you!_"

"Of course," Diamond replied tenderly. "I told you you'd see me again someday, and I keep my promises."

Leika picked herself up off the floor and flew to Mario's shoulder. "...Peach's mother?" she asked quietly, watching the reunion. Mario nodded and remained silent.

"Mom," Peach finally asked, "why did you leave me? I needed you so badly when I first took the throne. Why did you go?"

Diamond gently pushed Peach from her arms and placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "I had to, dear. My duty no longer lay with the kingdom. You had that responsibility. I returned to Rainbow Temple because my duty lay there." Her blue eyes gazed tenderly into Peach's. "You understand now."

"I..."

"Peach, look at _yourself,_" Diamond told her. "You're a grown woman now, the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. You have your own duties now. Don't worry about mine."

"But...Mom...why didn't you come back sooner?" Another tear spilled out from the Princess's eye. "I missed you so much..."

"My explanation doesn't matter, Peach. Suffice it to say that I've been trying to stop your sister. But even my white magic has had no effect on her. She nearly killed me several times."

"Oh, Mom!" breathed Peach.

"I'm just fine, Peach. Stop your worrying. That always was your weak point, daughter." Diamond smiled as she administered the mild reprimand. "It is nearly time for me to again take my leave, Peach. But before I do," she added, rising to her feet, "there is something I must do for you. Kneel."

"M-Mom?" Peach questioned uncertainly.

"Kneel, Peach."

Still puzzled, Peach knelt before her parent. Diamond smiled down at her.

"Peach, you are the true ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. You earned that right when Cyanara was banished. And you have the gift of white magic as well." Diamond's gaze fastened on Peach's face. "You have received almost the entire legacy of your royal lineage."

"Almost?" Peach inquired. "Mom, what are you talking about?"

"My daughter," answered Diamond, "you are ready at last. It is time for you to receive the full heritage of the crown." With that, Diamond bent down and placed her hands on Peach's shoulders again.

Suddenly Peach's dress burst into blazing white light, as did Diamond's rainbow robe. Peach was startled by this unexpected move of her mother and stared down at herself as she saw her clothing changing shape. The light flowed from her clothes over her entire body. After what seemed an eternity Diamond removed her hands from Peach's shoulders, and the light faded away to reveal a startling change in both mother and daughter.

No longer did Diamond wear her rainbow robes. Neither did Peach wear her pink silken dress. Mother and daughter had switched outfits. Diamond was now dressed in pink, and Peach was clad in the robe of the eighth Guardian.

Princess Peach rose to her feet, gaping at her new attire in utter astonishment.

"Reach inside it," Diamond told her daughter.

With shaking hands Peach obeyed, reaching into the folds of "her" robe. Her fingers struck a flat circular object, and her eyes widened as the tremblingly withdrew a black, shimmering disc.

"The Twilight Disc! M-Mom—are you—a-am I—"

Diamond smiled. "Yes, my dear. _You_ are the eighth Guardian of the Rainbow now."

Peach caught her breath and stared at her mother. "Mom—I—"

"This is my final gift to you, Peach," Diamond told her gently. "It is the last inheritance you will receive."

"B-But why me?" Peach asked, still incredulous.

"Peach," Diamond answered, "the keeping of the Twilight Disc has been passed down from generation to generation, and now it has come down to you. I was the eighth Rainbow Guardian before you, and my mother before me, and so on for hundreds of years."

"Mom, I don't _want_ to be a Guardian!" Peach responded tremblingly. "Take it back! Take the Disc back!"

Diamond shook her head. "I can't, Peach. Neither can you _give_ it back. This is not a matter of choice, Peach. This is your destiny. My mother did the same to me."

"Why _now,_ though?" Peach was still seeking a way out of this unexpected thrust of fate.

"You needed the strength, Peach. There is a power inside you now that will aid you in regaining your kingdom. They are part of your Guardianship."

"What powers?"

"White magic." Diamond tried to produce a sphere of light but managed only a spark or two. "As you can see, my power is gone. It now resides in you, my daughter. You had the little you were born with already, but now you possess the full power. I entrust you with it, Peach. Use it wisely."

Peach was silent, stunned by all of the new information her mother had given her.

"Peach, the Twilight Disc is not like the other Discs. Within it is housed a power unlike any other. Guard it with your life, and it in turn will guard you. Give it your all, and it will give you all it has to give. Whether you unlock its full potential or not is up to you."

Peach finally found her voice. "B-But Mom, I can't _do_ this! I _can't_ be a Rainbow Guardian!"

"Yes, you can, dear; yes, you can. I must go now."

"Mom, NO! You can't leave me now! I need you!!" Peach pleaded desperately. "Why must you leave me when I need you most?!"

"To show you your true self, Peach. I leave so that you will stop depending on me and reach within yourself to find the strength you need." Diamond smiled at her daughter. "You are stronger inside than you think you are, dear. Reach deep into your soul, and you will find that I am right."

Turning, Diamond placed the Tanzanite Ring in Mario's hand. "Care for it well, Mario. The future of this kingdom rests with both you and Peach. I know I've left the Mushroom Kingdom in good hands."

"You can count on us, Diamond," Mario replied staunchly. "We'll put a stop to Cyanara somehow."

"I know you will. I have faith in you both." Diamond turned back to Peach and gave her one last tender smile. "Farewell, my daughter. We will see one another again someday. I promise." She began to fade from view.

"Mom!" Peach grasped at her mother but felt only empty air. The tears began to flow again. "MOM!!"

"You are truly strong, my daughter," Diamond said tenderly. "You must discover that for yourself." Her eyes welled with tears as she disappeared from sight, and she whispered one last thing to her beloved daughter.

"...I love you, Peach."

Rainbow Sanctum was filled with nothing but an empty silence for a long while after Diamond had faded from sight.

Leika was the first to act. She flew up in front of the rainbow-clad Peach and curtsied solemnly. "I am at your service, Eighth Guardian."

"Stop it, Leika!" cried Peach through her tears. "I am _not_ a Guardian! I don't want to _be_ one!"

"From what your mom said, you don't have much choice," Mario responded softly, trying to ease her tension. "I think you'd be better off just accepting what she said and living with it rather than fighting it."

"Mario," Peach answered with a twinge of sadness, "do you even know what this _means_ for me?"

Mario slowly shook his head _no._

Peach's gaze dropped to the crystal floor. "I've always been the one being protected. Protected by you, by Luigi, by the Rainbow Guardians... There's always been someone to come to my rescue. And now...all of a sudden...I'm supposed to be the protector? How can I make such a change so quickly?"

Mario laid a hand on her shoulder. "You'll get used to it eventually, I'm sure. Besides, _I'm_ still here. That hasn't changed. And as far as I'm concerned, you're still the Princess Peach we all know and love. You're just a little stronger now, that's all."

Peach smiled somewhat regretfully. "Thanks, Mario. Let's get off this mountain and into the next dimension."

"I'm sure Toadsworth will just _love_ this new outfit you've got," Mario remarked with a grin, gesturing at the beautifully becoming rainbow robe with the white band cutting diagonally across the waist. "Probably he'll go berserk and order you to change back into your dress."

"And won't he have a fit when he finds out I don't have it," Peach added, the smile returning to her face. She brushed her tears away. "Come on, let's get back to Luigi and Toadsworth!"

* * *

Cyanara shut the mind-control system off and smiled evilly at her helpless victim on the steel table. "Well, Athos, how does it feel to have your mind replaced?"

Athos said nothing. He lay on the table as one dead, eyes shot, breathing imperceptible. The struggle had completely exhausted him.

"Are you ready to put all of your traitorousness behind you and return to serving me?" asked the Empress deliberately.

"...I...I will...s-serve you...Master..." Athos murmured through chapped lips.

"Excellent," Cyanara answered with another smile. She rose from her seat at the computer and came up to Athos's side. "Now I want you to kill Amethyst."

Involuntarily a look of horror flitted across Athos's face. Cyanara caught it, narrowed her eyes at her erstwhile servant, and slugged him in the face. Athos cried out, blood oozing from his nose.

"I might have guessed you were lying, traitor," she spat viciously at him. "What you have coming to you _now_ is going to be a thousand times worse than what you have already been through. No one toys with me and lives to tell about it!" With that parting threat, Cyanara left him behind in the chamber and headed back up to the fortress's ground level.

The Empress stopped before an ordinary-looking wooden door and knocked. A small voice came from within.

"C-Come in."

Cyanara opened the door. Beyond it was a small room with bed, dresser, nightstand, lamp—in short, everything a little girl might possibly need to spend the night there in comfort. There was even a teddy bear lying on the neatly-made bed. Princess Aster, with her green silk dress and auburn hair, sat on the edge of the bed, watching her visitor fearfully.

Quietly the Empress approached her young "guest" and sat down beside her. "Aster, your present is ready," she informed the little girl while stroking her hair softly.

Aster looked up at her "benefactor." "C-Can I have it now?" she inquired in a small voice.

Smiling, Cyanara nodded. "Yes, little princess. Come with me." She rose to her feet, took Aster's white-gloved hand in hers, and led her from the room.

The two wound their way through the fortress's intricate system of hallways, finally arriving at the silver double doors that proclaimed the entrance to the throne room. Cyanara pushed the doors open, and she and Aster entered the imposing chamber.

Immediately Aster saw the Shadow King and Queen not six feet from her. She gave a little scream and hid behind Cyanara's black skirt.

The King laughed. "Ah, the little one is fearful!"

"Come, Aster, there's no need to be so frightened," Cyanara told her, gently but firmly drawing the young princess out from behind her. She looked Aster in the eye. "I thought you were a brave girl," she said half-reproachfully.

"B-But—the—th-the—" Aster cast fearful eyes on the Royals again.

"They're here to give you your present, Aster. Don't be afraid." Cyanara motioned to the Queen, who slowly, gracefully approached Aster, wearing the friendliest smile she could muster. Aster shrank back against Cyanara with a small whimper.

The Queen got down on her knees and put her face at Aster's level. "Would you like your present now, young one?" she asked softly.

Aster hesitated, then nodded slowly.

The Queen's eyes glistened red. "Very well. I'll give it to you."

Without warning the Queen leaned forward and kissed Aster's lips. Princess Aster's face registered surprise, and she tried to pull away, but could not. What could not be seen during the few seconds of liplock was that something resembling a shadowy ether flowed from the Queen's mouth into Aster's.

"How do you like it, dear?" asked the Queen with a wicked smile.

Aster's face betrayed shock, and she stood stock still for several minutes. Suddenly she clutched at her chest, cried out, and fell to her knees as a purple glow issued from her eyes. Her head went back in a childish scream of horror.

"Is it done?" came a male voice from the door.

The King looked past Cyanara and the screaming, shaking Aster to see a young man standing just inside the throne room doors. He was dressed in a red tunic and gray leggings identical to the King's, and a short black cape hung from his shoulders. A blood-red crown similar to that of the Royals sat atop his raven-black hair. The King smiled in greeting and answered the query.

"Yes, my prince. She is yours."

* * *

"Princess! What on _earth_ do you think you're wearing?!"

Peach giggled. "I knew it," she whispered to Mario, who nodded and grinned.

Toadsworth continued his insistent ranting. "Take that ridiculous...whatever-it-is off this instant and put your dress back on! I demand it!"

"You want me to change clothes right out here in the open?" Peach asked with a smile, gesturing around at the flat clifftop plateau.

"Well, er...no," Toadsworth stammered. Then he recovered himself. "And where did you get such an absurd piece of clothing?!"

"For your information, Toadsworth, my mother gave it to me." Peach's voice indicated that she would brook no further opposition. Fortunately for Toadsworth, he did not offer any.

"Your...mother?" he gasped. "The good Queen Diamond is yet alive?!"

"Yes," Peach replied calmly.

Toadsworth was stunned by this news. He worked his jaw, but no sound came out.

"Good to see you safe and sound, bro," Luigi greeted Mario. "Looks like you got the Ring!"

"The Tanzanite Ring." Mario held up his left hand and let the sun glint off the indigo gem on his fourth finger. "Now it's on to Violet Dimension. Luigi, it's your turn to do the honors." He handed his younger sibling the white DTD disk.

"B-Bro?" stammered Luigi.

Mario placed the Tanzanite Ring in Luigi's gloved hand. "Go ahead."

Luigi, still hesitant, took the Ring and fitted its gem into DT's central socket. The device whirred musically, and in seconds a beautiful violet portal shimmered before the group. Luigi handed the Ring and DTD back to Mario with a wide grin on his face.

"On to Violet Dimension," droned DT.

"Wahaa!" yelled Luigi as he leaped through the portal.

Peach stepped through the violet portal, and her feet rested on soft green grass. She gasped at what she saw before her. A large stone structure surrounded by a deep moat sat solidly on the ground in broad daylight, several hundred yards distant.

"The castle!" Peach cried. "It's my castle!"

The portal closed behind her. The others had already come through behind her by this time. Mario moved slowly forward, staring at the castle. It _looked_ normal.

_WHIZZZ..._

"Peach!!" Mario tackled her and brought both her and himself skidding into the dirt.

Peach pushed him off and got to her feet. "Mario, what on earth do you think you're doing?!" she demanded.

Mario pointed to an arrow embedded in the turf not three feet behind the spot Peach had been standing on. If Mario hadn't knocked her over it would have pierced her heart. Peach hugged him tightly.

"Come on, we've got to find a place where whoever-it-is can't shoot at us," Mario said urgently. He led the way away from the castle into the surrounding forest.

No sooner had they set foot in the forest than they saw, to their surprise, Princess Daisy herself stepping out of a black portal amongst the trees. A Shy Guy in a black suit, black bowtie, and sunglasses accompanied her. The instant she laid eyes on the startled group, she stormed over to them.

"Peach! I demand to know what's going on around here!"

"Daisy, calm down," Peach responded gently, trying to cool her friend's temper. "How did you get here?"

"I know about the dimensional rifting thing, Peach. Spy Guy here told me all about that. But then my little sister gets kidnapped!"

Peach gasped. "Aster—kidnapped?!"

Daisy's eyes welled with tears. "The Great One has her. I just came from that accursed fortress, where I was trying to find a way inside. It's no use. The place is sealed more tightly than a can of tuna." She began to cry, then checked herself. "I'm sorry for the outburst. I get like this when I think about Aster..."

"Daisy," Mario told her gravely, "we know the Great One's true identity now."

Daisy's eyes widened. "You do?"

Peach nodded. "Her name is Cyanara, and...she's my older sister."

Daisy almost fell over. "Do you mean to tell me—!! I mean, I know she hates you and everything, but is this thing between you and her some kind of sibling rivalry or something?"

"I guess you could call it that," Peach conceded. "She claims _she_ should have the throne, not me."

"Not in a million years!" exclaimed Daisy heatedly. "She'd _never_ do _half_ as good a job as you do!"

"That's not the point," Peach hastened to say. "Cyanara was banished and stripped of her royal rights because of her dark heart. According to law she can't have the throne—ever!"

Daisy was silent, taking all this information in.

"Daisy," Peach addressed her friend, "we need to get into my castle. Apparently the Paroidian Guard is still inside. Can you and Spy Guy help us out?"

"Spy Guy," Daisy ordered, "get into that castle and open the gates so we can get inside."

"Understood," replied the black-suited Shy Guy. He put his black sunglasses on and cautiously slipped out of the trees, heading for the castle. The others sat back to wait for him.

In less than half an hour Daisy's radio crackled. "Your Highness?"

Daisy lifted the transponder to her lips. "Come in, Spy Guy. What's up?"

"The security inside the castle is too heavy for me to do anything as blatant as opening the gates," replied the espionage expert. "I'm going to have to use the timechanger to get you guys in here."

"The timechanger?! But Spy Guy—"

"It's the only way." Spy Guy's voice was perfectly calm.

"...OK. Let me explain this to Peach and the others. Stand by."

Daisy turned to her friends. "Spy Guy's timechanger gadget can speed up or slow down time. What he's going to do is speed up time all around us. Everything except us will be affected, including Spy Guy. Once it's nighttime, the security inside the castle should be lessened, and Spy Guy should be able to let us in."

"I never quite understood all of that time travel theory stuff," Peach laughed, "but I trust you."

"Go ahead, Spy Guy," Daisy relayed over the radio.

"Ten-four."

Suddenly the world around them burst into rapid motion. Plants and even large trees shivered erratically as the effect of slight breezes over hours of time was compressed into mere seconds. The entire forest around them seemed alive as it continued its shaking, wavering motion. It was like watching a film in rapid fast-forward. Leika pointed up through the canopy of shivering leaves, and the others looked up to see the sun gliding across the sky at a rate that would place sundown at a distance of less than a minute rather than several hours. The group watched in awe as the sun dipped below the horizon, plunging them into darkness, and suddenly the time fast-forward stopped. The third quarter moon shone down on them.

Daisy clicked her two-way radio back on. "Spy Guy, give us your current time."

"Four AM," came the staticky response.

Mario quickly reset his watch to agree with the new time. "Man, over fifteen hours in just minutes!"

Spy Guy's voice came over the radio again. "Security's not as tight. I'm opening the gate now." In another minute or so the castle's massive oaken gates swung open almost noiselessly. Spy Guy had oiled every hinge well to avoid making a racket.

A Shy Guy silhouette scuttled out of the gates and onto the moonlit castle grounds. "Come on!" he called in a hoarse whisper, beckoning furtively to the group concealed in the forest tree line.

Mario dashed out to Spy Guy first and hunkered down in the grass. Peach followed closely. Leika was so small in comparison to her companions that she needed no concealment; she simply flew close to the ground and reached Spy Guy rather quickly. Luigi almost tripped and barely saved himself from a fall which more than likely would have revealed their presence to the Paroidians atop the watchtowers. At last the entire group of seven was reassembled in the grassy field, a hundred yards from the open castle gates.

"Huff! I say," Toadsworth panted, "this is rather the dangerous escapade! Are we certain about this?"

"No going back now," replied Spy Guy quietly. His black suit concealed him almost perfectly in the cold moonlight. "When I say go, we dash for the gate." The others prepared themselves for the sprint.

"Ready—GO!"

Instantly the group charged forward through the grass, seven figures against a backdrop of dim light. Toadsworth quickly fell behind, and the others rushed through the gates ahead of him.

Suddenly there were shouts from the top of the wall, and a hail of arrows rained down on Toadsworth. He yelled in pain and fell onto his face, unable to get up.

"Toadsworth!!" cried Peach and rushed back out of the gates to help her steward, not giving the slightest thought to her own safety.

Mario gasped. "No! Peach! The archers on the wall!!"

She paid no heed to the warning. Quickly but gently she knelt by her trusty steward and tried to help him up.

A horrible whizzing sound suddenly filled Peach's ears, as if her mind had just awakened to her danger. Her head shot up, and terror filled her eyes as she watched dozens of arrows lofting into the air from the wall, falling toward their target far below. She froze where she was, paralyzed, unable to move, unwilling to leave Toadsworth as her sharp-pointed executioners plummeted toward her.


	17. Royal Flush

Just seconds before being the arrows came down on her, Princess Peach finally let out a scream and threw herself across Toadsworth in protection, waiting for those penetrating points to stab into her flesh.

The pain never came.

Peach felt a dozen arrows beat a tattoo against her exposed back, and all was quiet. Stunned, she reached behind her and felt her back. Not a single arrow was lodged in it. Her hand, moving to the grass beside her, detected an object lying there. She picked it up and, bringing it before her face, was shocked to see that it was one of the arrows intended for her—and its tip was literally bent in half! She stared at the mutilated arrow in amazement.

Suddenly she remembered Toadsworth. In a flash she had him on his feet and was helping him toward the gate. No further volleys were fired at them, and soon the Princess and her steward were safely inside the gates. Apparently the guards were confident that two waves of arrows were sufficiently fatal.

"Are you all right, Toadsworth?" Peach asked anxiously.

"Just a few nicks and scrapes," grunted the old Toad painfully. "I'll be right as rain in no time."

"Are _you_ all right, Peach?" Mario inquired, turning the question back on the questioner.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "Perfectly fine."

"Peach, I _saw_ those arrows hit you." Mario's face betrayed amazement. "Do you mean to tell me that—"

Peach held up the bent-tipped arrow. Mario ran his finger over the ruined point in stunned silence.

"It must have been the Twilight Disc," Peach guessed. "Mom said the Twilight Disc would protect me if I protected it. That's...that's the only thing I can think of..."

"Incredible," breathed Daisy, eyes wide. Leika too showed signs of astonishment.

"We can't keep standing out in the open like this," Spy Guy broke in impatiently. "We've got to get inside."

"Follow me," Peach instructed. "I know me castle's layout better than anyone else." Quickly she led the way from the yard inside the gate to the main castle building. She found the doors locked, but once again Spy Guy came to the rescue and picked the lock easily. The group entered the main castle lobby and shut the doors behind them. Immediately they all noticed something peculiar about the castle interior. They stood in pitch blackness except for the faint aura of rainbow light shed by Leika's body. There was no light anywhere else.

"Not this again," muttered Luigi. "Does this setup look familiar to anyone?"

"None of the lights are on," Mario replied grimly. "That's _exactly_ what the Shadows Royal did last time they occupied the castle—they shut all the lights off."

Peach's eyes blazed in indignation. "If they're here again, we'll give them a good reason to pack up and leave!" Boldly she led the way out of the foyer into the red-carpeted hallway and from there into her own throne room. No one was there.

"Last time the Royals were in here," Peach remarked a bit hesitantly as the group scanned the darkened room. Peach's golden throne loomed large and mysterious at the far end of the long chamber.

"Don't let your guard down," Mario whispered as he began advancing slowly into the room, intending to go the room's full length just to make sure that there was no one there.

Suddenly he stopped. He strained his eyes into the blackness ahead. Faintly he could discern the silhouette of a young girl a few yards in front of him. He quickly returned to his friends.

"There's someone up there!" he whispered hoarsely.

"Then I'll just go see who it is," Daisy replied staunchly, and before anyone could stop her she had begun walking toward the mysterious person ahead.

Nearing the figure, Daisy slowed and scrutinized her target. In the faint light she could barely make out the form of a small girl. The shape looked familiar. Daisy's eyes widened.

"Aster?!"

The girl said nothing; her back was toward Daisy. She ignored Daisy completely.

"Aster!!" Daisy rushed to the girl and tried to hug her, but the girl whirled around just as Daisy ran up and—

_SLAP!_

Daisy cried out and stumbled backward, and her hand flew to her stinging face. She stared at the face of her little assailant. It _had_ to be Aster—of that Daisy was certain. She knew her sister's face. But her actions...

"Aster!"

Aster's eyes gleamed red, and a strange voice came up from her throat. "I am not Princess Aster."

Another figure suddenly appeared beside Aster or whoever-it-was. He stood near her as if protecting her.

"Who are you?" Mario challenged, moving closer.

The young man glared at Mario. "I am called the Shadow Prince."

Aster's strange voice interjected. "And I am the Shadow Princess."

"Shadow Princess?!" cried Daisy. "Aster, no! Wake up!"

"There IS no Princess Aster!" spat the Shadow Princess spitefully.

Leika darted over to Daisy's side and responded in defiance, "I command you to leave Aster alone, filthy demon!"

The evil Princess's eyes blazed red. "Leika, you accursed fairy! It was _you_ that destroyed my nine other brother and sister spirits! With them, all thirteen Aeshma Souls would stand before you today!"

"And I'll do to you what I did to them!" retorted Leika hotly. "Your creator Aeshma, the lord of the Shadow Legion, is dead! He deserved what he got, the wicked spirit! You, the Prince, and even the King and Queen will perish just as he did!"

"We will see about that, Rainbow Fairy!" shouted the Prince. "My princess, let us destroy these fools who dare resist the great Empress Cyanara!"

"It will be my pleasure to begin with Princess Daisy!" replied the evil Princess. She put out her hand and shot a jet of scorching flames directly into Daisy's midsection, knocking her backward into Peach and setting her dress ablaze. Peach caught Daisy and quickly squelched the fire.

The Prince withdrew a long silver-handled whip from his belt and brandished it threateningly. "I, as an Aeshma Soul, will play the role of slave-driver in this brief conflict. Bow before your masters, feeble slaves!" The whip sang out and cracked across Leika's skull, sending the fairy crashing to the floor, nearly unconscious. She reached feebly toward Princess Peach.

"Eighth Guardian... Help!"

Almost involuntarily Peach rushed to her fallen friend, cradled her in her hands, and sent a pulse of white magic into her, rejuvenating the fairy. In moments Leika was airborne again.

The Shadow Prince and Princess stepped back a little.

"It appears we are facing the Eighth Guardian of the Rainbow," remarked the Shadow Princess hesitantly.

"No matter," responded the Prince. "Never yet have the eight Guardians been able to destroy the Shadows Royal. Nor will this single Guardian stand a chance against _us!_"

Again the whip snaked out and struck like a serpent, this time biting Peach. But to the amazement of both Shadow Prince and Princess Peach, the stinging blow only bounced off Peach's body without so much as scratching her. Not even her rainbow robe was damaged in the least.

"She is impervious to standard weaponry!" exclaimed the Prince. "No solid object can damage her!"

"Then allow me," put in the Shadow Princess, firing a stream of flames directly at Peach. As expected, the fire did hurt her, and Mario came to her rescue by smothering the flames on her robes. Frightened, Peach retreated somewhat, taking Daisy and Toadsworth with her to keep them safe. Mario, Luigi, Leika, and Spy Guy would have to do the fighting.

Now the Prince's whip was in a dozen places at once, striking with stunning rapidity and pinpoint accuracy. In just seconds he cracked the stinging strap into all four of his foes, striking them backward. Spy Guy recovered from the lash, pulled a miniature bomb from his pocket, armed it, and lobbed it at the Prince. The Prince caught it, smiled evilly, and crushed the device in one hand.

"No mere playthings are capable of damaging me!" he crowed while knocking Spy Guy off his feet with a well-placed crack of the whip.

Mario and Luigi began pelting the Shadow Prince with fireballs, and Leika busied the Shadow Princess with beams of rainbow light. Spy Guy readied two more bombs. At the right instant he tossed one at the Prince. Of course the fiend simply caught and crushed it as he had the first, but he failed to notice the other bomb, which Spy Guy had rolled behind him. In second a violent explosion sent the Prince flying over the heads of his opponents, crashing to the floor at the feet of Princess Peach herself. She immediately reached down and took him by the throat, choking him.

"I'm going to end this right here, Shadow Prince!" said the Princess through her teeth as she choked the life out of the now-desperate Prince. "I will not allow you harm those I love!"

Peach, however, failed to notice the Shadow Princess's fiery glare.

Suddenly Princess Peach burst into flames, instantly becoming a living torch. She screamed and released the Prince from her grip, beating at the inferno with her blazing hands while screaming hysterically.

"_PEACH!!_" Mario rushed to her, knocked her to the floor, and tried to smother the fire that covered her entirely. As suddenly as they had come, the flames vanished, leaving Peach lying on the marble floor of her throne room, covered in severe burns and still screaming in pain. Daisy, Toadsworth, Spy Guy, Luigi and Leika clustered around her as Mario tried to soothe her agony.

"Aaah—AAAAAAH!! AAAH!! A-AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

"Peach, it's OK," Mario said anxiously. "It's OK. We're all here. You're gonna be OK."

After a few agonizing minutes, the pain subsided to near-tolerable levels, and Peach ceased her screaming and lay there on the floor, completely exhausted.

"Hey!" cried Luigi. "They're gone!!"

Sure enough, both Prince and Princess had left the room—vanished without a trace. Mario stood and clenched a fist. "They won't get away with this!"

"Mario..."

He looked down at Peach inquiringly.

"Mario... Just leave me here...with Daisy and Toadsworth..." She sucked in her breath as pain spiked through her nerves. "Take...the others...and chase the Prince and Princess..."

"No way am I leaving you here in your condition!" exclaimed Mario. "If those two Shadows Royal Juniors were to attack you while I'm gone, you wouldn't stand a chance!" He shook his head in a very definite _no._ "I'm not going anywhere!"

Peach looked him in the eye. "I'm not...asking you...to go, Mario... That's an _order._ As the Princess...of the Mushroom Kingdom...I _order_ you to pursue them!"

Mario was taken aback. Never before had Peach exercised her royal authority over him. The order stunned him. "Peach...?"

Her eyes softened. "Mario...I love you. Now go! GO!!!"

Mario's indecision evaporated instantly. Reassured, he smiled down at Peach, then quickly rounded up Luigi, Leika, and Spy Guy and led the little group of four in search of the Shadow Prince and Princess.

Daisy knelt next to Peach and squeezed her hand. "Did you just tell Mario what I think you did?"

Peach smiled softly in spite of the pain of her burns and nodded. "He deserved it."

Toadsworth shook his head helplessly.

Mario and his group crept through the pitch-black halls of the castle, warily watching for their foes who might appear at any moment around any corner. Their hunt through the castle could be compared to that of a blind mouse in a dark maze. All they could do was keep going and hope they weren't going in circles.

At a T-junction in the halls, Mario halted. "Left or right? One's as good as the other, I guess," he shrugged, turning into the right-hand hall. The hall he had chosen terminated in twenty feet at a solid oaken door. Mario turned the knob and swung the door open to reveal the starry sky and shining moon overhead, visible above the castle courtyard. A wave of cool air washed over the group as they looked out into the immaculately landscaped courtyard garden. The tiniest hint of red tinged the sky over the eastern wall, a sign that daylight was not far off—perhaps an hour or two away.

Leika darted silently into the moonlight, her rainbow aura casting faint shades of color onto the flagstone pavement. "Come on," she called quietly. "Let's check this place thoroughly."

The others moved stealthily forward, creeping down the shadowy walkways so silently they appeared to be shadows themselves. Their eyes roved about in the dim light, searching for any sign of their escaped enemies.

There were four stone statues in the courtyard, surrounding the central fountain which bubbled quietly in the background. The north statue was a man, tall, striking, gazing intently into the sparkling water of the fountain pool as if musing over some mysterious puzzle. The stone figure opposite him, the south statue, was a woman, in her arm bearing a water pitcher from which she continually poured into the fountain—but she paid little attention to her endless task, for her eyes were fastened on the man opposite her, and a smile graced her lips.

On the east stood a stone boy, chiseled with almost photographic realism, captured in the essence of play, throwing a ball across the fountain with childish delight. Above the fountain's burbling spurt of water was a stone ball, cleverly supported by a steel rod concealed in the fountain's spray. The stone figure of a girl stretched out her hands from the west side of the fountain to catch the ball which never came down. The four statues surrounded the fountain like silent sentinels in the pre-dawn darkness.

Time and again Leika darted in and out amongst the statues. Time and again Mario passed close to them.

The eyes of the man statue, unnoticed, followed Leika's every move, always quickly returning to meditate upon the waters should the fairy chance to look his way.

Luigi, passing close to the woman statue, was almost certain he'd seen her glance at him.

Spy Guy, prowling about the outskirts of the courtyard, thought he saw the little stone boy turn his head and look at him.

Leika hovered to a stop near the little girl statue. "I guess there's no one here," she said aloud, half to herself.

The little girl's outflung stone hand slowly reached up toward the fairy.

"LEIKA!" yelled Mario. "THE STATUE!!"

In the nick of time Leika turned, saw the cold stone hand about to close on her, and shot forward out of the hands reach. She turned and stared at the statue, transfixed by terror.

Slowly, dramatically, four figures emerged from the statues. A man with black vesture, gray leggings, and a red crown stepped out of the man statue, and a young man with red tunic and black cape emerged from the sculpture of the boy. Simultaneously a woman clad in a black dress and a red crown left the confines of the statue of the woman, and a young girl similarly dressed slipped from the girl statue. All four figures smiled evilly at Mario and his group.

"It's the Shadows Royal!" cried Leika.

"All _four_ of us this time," put in the Shadow Queen. "And were it not for you, Leika, we would today be thirteen strong! I will personally see to it that from this day forth you will breathe no more!" Her eyes glowed red with hatred.

"What happened to 'can't destroy the Rainbow Fairy'?" Leika questioned sarcastically. "Decided to try anyway?"

"You don't stand a chance, Shadows Royal!" Mario shouted in challenge.

The Shadow Prince flicked his silver-handled whip menacingly. "We will emerge victorious this time, Mario. This will be your last battle!"

"It is time, Mario," spoke the Shadow King with finality, "time for you and those with you to feel the combined might of the last four Aeshma Souls!" He drew the enormous Aeshma Sword from beneath his vest and glared at Mario with burning red eyes. "We will avenge the glorious Shadow Legion and our omnipotent creator Aeshma by sacrificing you to the power of shadows!"

The Shadow Princess was the first to act, firing a ball of flames directly at Mario. He dodged the burning projectile easily and hurled a fireball of his own at the dark Princess. Before it reached her, however, the Prince's whip snapped forward and shattered the fireball into a harmless shower of sparks.

"None shall touch her!" crowed the Prince.

A beam of rainbow light zapped the Prince's skull and momentarily stunned him.

"Then we'll just have to take you down _first!_" retorted Leika from high above him, out of reach of the stinging whip.

Mario dashed forward to attack the stunned Prince but was felled by a bolt of lightning from the Shadow Queen. The King, seizing the opportunity, rushed up to the fallen Mario and raised the Aeshma Sword over him.

A gunshot rang out of the darkness of the terraced courtyard, and a bullet sparked off the Aeshma Sword's broadside, sending the blade spinning out of the King's hand. It clattered to a stop on the flagstones some distance away.

Before the King could retrieve his weapon, the black-suited Spy Guy sprang from his hiding place in one of the flower beds and hurled himself through the air at the King, gripping his black pistol in his hand. Four more shots shattered the stillness of the courtyard, the muzzle blasts lighting up the surrounding area for brief instants. Four more bullets went speeding toward their mark.

The King threw up his hand, and a dark energy shield surrounded him. The four bullets dissolved instantly on impact. Letting down the shield, the King fixed his red eyes on the hurtling Spy Guy and brought his foot around in a roundhouse kick, striking the spy squarely in the midriff and hammering him backward into the courtyard wall more than twenty feet away.

Now Luigi charged forward to deal payback to the Shadow King. The Shadow Princess easily scorched him with her powers of fire while the King retrieved his sword. Again the King raised the Aeshma Sword over Mario's still-stunned body.

Just before being hacked in half, Mario gathered his feet under him and sprang backward in a tremendous backflip, launching balls of ice from both hands as he flipped through the air. The ice pummeled the Shadow King with relentless force, making him stumble back a few feet. Like the Shadow Aides Zaron and Takanyar, the King and the other Royals had a weakness—ice. Mario landed flawlessly on his feet and went into his battle stance again.

Meanwhile the Prince was busy repelling Leika. Again and again his whip cracked in mid-air, each time missing the fairy by mere millimeters. Leika dodged too quickly to be hit but was kept so busy dodging the lashes that she had no chance to return fire. Eventually she found herself forced to retreat beyond the range of the Prince's whip.

For a few brief moments the fight ground to a halt. The opponents eyed each other, each side silently daring the other to make the next move. Neither side had gained an advantage over the other; all of the combatants were still in the fight. The tense, heart-pounding silence lasted for only a minute or two, but to the opposing sides it seemed an eternity.

"Trying to force us to show our hand?" inquired the Queen at length, showing a facetious smile. "Let's see, we have a king, a queen, a jack, and a ten. The last card, of course, is the 'ace' in the hole." She turned to the Shadow Princess. "Let them taste the power of the Ring!"

The dark Princess raised her left hand, revealing the violet gem on her left middle finger.

"The seventh Rainbow Ring!" Mario cried.

The Ring gleamed brightly from the Princess's gray-gloved hand, and Mario suddenly felt all strength leave him. He struggled to hold himself upright as he grew steadily weaker. "Wh-What the—"

"The Kunzite Ring will leech every last drop of energy from you," the Shadow Princess told him with an evil glint in her eye. "And when you are weak and helpless, the others of your party will meet the same fate."

The Shadow Queen smiled. "Royal flush, Mario. We are unstoppable."

Mario could stand no longer and collapsed to the flagstones beneath his feet. He strained every muscle in an attempt to rise but failed. He had not the strength. "...Grrrr... Come on, get up, Mario!" he grunted to himself as he still tried to get back on his feet.

Within minutes Mario, Luigi, Leika, and Spy Guy lay helpless on the courtyard's stone pavement, completely drained of all their energy. The Shadow Princess smiled evilly and walked up to the fallen Mario.

"It seems you were unable to protect those you care for," she remarked cruelly. "What a sad thing that you have failed to defend them." She placed her hand on Mario's face. He felt the heat from her hand but was too weak to resist.

"As your punishment for such failure, I will burn you to ashes. Your foolish friends cannot help you now, 'hero.' Prepare to die at the hands of those whose creator you murdered!"


	18. The Sacrifice

Suddenly the courtyard burst into white radiance. All four Shadows Royal cringed and cowered back from the harsh, penetrating glare of the brilliant light.

Princess Peach stood in the courtyard doorway, arrayed in her rainbow robes. Her burns were gone. She held her outstretched hands toward the Royals, and that brilliant white light emanated directly from her hands, nearly paralyzing the four Royals.

"Aaaagh!" cried the Shadow King, shielding his face with his hand. "This power—too—strong! It—it is the—"

"The Eighth Rainbow Guardian!!" finished the Queen, herself blinded by the light. "Diamond should have been killed long ago!"

"That is not Diamond!" protested the Prince in agony. "It is Princess Peach!"

"What?!" gasped the Queen. "It is! No! Diamond has passed the powers of the Eighth Guardian to Peach! We are _doomed!!_"

"I'm not about to let you kill Mario or anyone else!" Peach shouted, hurling her voice through the courtyard. "You've lived too long already, Shadows Royal! It's time you were sent back to the place you came from!!"

"N-No! This light—AAAAUGH!! I—cannot resist—this—light!" cried the Queen. "I—am going to—NO! I CANNOT DIE!!!"

Suddenly a black cloud enveloped the Shadow Queen, and a black ghost-like being was torn from her body. The demon gave a horrible scream.

"_CURSE YOU PEACH!!!_"

As the words left its mouth it disintegrated under the force of the blinding light. The Shadow Queen's body, no longer under the demon's control, collapsed to the stone pavement, and its physical features began to return to normal. Her dress morphed from black to sky blue, the gem on her chest from red to orange, her crown from red to gold. She lay as one dead. A similar transformation was happening to the other three Royals as their possessing demons were drawn out and destroyed. The light from Peach's hands faded away, showing the courtyard in twilight once again.

Peach rushed to Mario and knelt beside him. Daisy was right behind her, flying past Mario's prone form and going straight to her no-longer-possessed little sister Aster, now lying on the ground looking perfectly normal.

"Mario!" Peach placed her hands on Mario and revitalized him with a pulse of white magic. His energy restored, Mario sat up, looking in bewilderment at Peach.

"Peach, that light—was that—you?"

She nodded. "I had to do _something._"

"How in the world did you do that?! I mean, of all the people who might have destroyed the Shadows Royal, I never thought it would be you!"

"I don't know," she confessed. "I opened the courtyard door just as the Shadow Princess sucked out your energy, and...something in me just rose up in indignation. It was almost instinctive." She held out her hands in frustration. "I can't explain it any better than that."

"Does this mean you're...willing to be the eighth Guardian now?" asked Mario.

Peach shook her head. "...No, I still don't want to. I still think this was all just a big mistake." She rose to her feet and finished reviving the rest of the fallen fighters. Then she returned to Mario.

"Peach," Mario began, "when you challenged the Shadows Royal like that... That wasn't the Princess Peach I know. What came over you to make you act like that?"

"I-I don't know, Mario," she admitted. "I have two conflicting sides inside me right now. Part of me wants to embrace Guardianship, and part of me wants to reject it. Right then...I guess the embracing part took over for a minute." She sighed. "I don't want to change. I want to be the same person I've always been."

"Looks like it's going to take something serious to get you to change your mind about this Eighth Guardian thing," Mario remarked. His eyes wandered over the courtyard's central fountain and lingered on a figure in a sky-blue dress who was slowly sitting up. "Hey, isn't that—"

"Éclair!!" Peach rushed to her friend. "Princess Éclair!!"

"Peach?" questioned the black-haired princess in bewilderment. "...A-Am I—?"

"Oh, Éclair!" Peach enveloped her friend in a bear hug, the tears falling fast. "You're safe now. The Shadows Royal are dead." Éclair said nothing else and hugged Peach back. Daisy was a few feet away, repeating the same scene with her little sister Aster.

"Looks like the reunion's just getting started," Luigi remarked as he came over to Mario. "...Huh? Who's that?" He pointed to the right of the fountain at a handsome, clean-cut figure arrayed in scarlet. A golden crown sat atop his head.

"I don't know," Mario admitted. "Maybe—"

Éclair suddenly noticed the man standing near the fountain and gasped. She jumped to her feet, pushed past a startled Peach, and ran to him, calling his name.

"CREME!!"

The man turned, saw Éclair, and caught her in his strong arms with a look of astonishment on his face. "...Éclair?!"

"Creme!" cried Éclair joyfully. "It's you! I was so worried!"

"I'm fine, Éclair," he responded, embracing her tenderly. "It's good to know you're safe!"

Éclair released Creme from her arms and turned to the puzzled Peach. "Peach, this is Prince Creme, my fiancé."

"Fiancé?!" exclaimed Peach. "Éclair, you never told me you were engaged!"

Prince Creme laughed and looked Éclair in the eye. "I told you you were a little too secretive for your own good, remember?"

"I'll admit it," Éclair replied with a sweet smile.

"Well, we know Éclair and Aster already, and Creme's been introduced," Mario said aloud, "but who's _that?_" He pointed at the teenage boy who had previously been the vessel for the Shadow Prince and who was now struggling to his feet. His clothing had not changed. His eyes narrowed.

"Traitors!" he screamed, pulling a DTD from his pocket. "You still resist the Empress?" A black portal opened before him, and he started to step through, then turned.

"She will be waiting for you!"

He disappeared through the portal, and it closed behind him.

"Looks like Cyanara made sure there was one bad egg in the basket," remarked Mario dryly. "She'll have advance warning that we're on our way now. Come on, let's go."

Daisy took the purple Kunzite Ring from Aster's finger and gave it to Mario. "Just another ring to add to your collection," she said with a smile, indicating the six Rings already on Mario's fingers.

"Thanks." Mario slipped the seventh Ring onto his left middle finger. Pulling his own DTD out, he fitted the Kunzite Ring's gem into the proper place. In seconds a portal as black as midnight opened before him.

"Black Dimension," breathed Mario. "Cyanara's in there somewhere, and we're gonna find her!"

"Shall I save you the trouble, Mario?"

Before Mario's astonished eyes, Cyanara herself stepped out through the portal. She eyed Mario craftily. "Talking about me?"

Mario quickly backed away and put his fists up. "C-Cyanara!"

"The Great One!" gasped Daisy. She wrapped her arms around Aster a little more protectively.

Cyanara turned and smiled at Daisy. "Why, hello again, Princess Daisy. So nice to see you again. Pity you aren't still a pile of ash in my town square."

Daisy glared back at the Empress and said nothing.

"I must thank you for the loan of your little sister," Cyanara added. "It was _so_ kind of you."

The Empress turned to Mario again, black eyes penetrating his blue ones. "And Mario. Still causing mischief, I see. I'm not exactly appreciative of your killing off the Shadows Royal." She fingered her moon-topped iron staff impatiently. "Not nice of you."

"You're next in line, Cyanara," Mario informed her hotly.

"Really? That's too bad, because you'll be very disappointed when you try to kill me." She smiled that cunning smile of hers. "I'm completely immortal."

Peach laid a hand on Mario's shoulder. "She's telling the truth," she whispered.

Mario steamed. "...I-I'll get you somehow!"

Cyanara ignored the statement and turned her attention to Peach, who paled immediately. "Hello, little sister," she greeted Peach pleasantly. "You're coming with me."

"I am not!" shot back Peach.

"You'll not take the Eighth Guardian!" cried Leika.

Cyanara's eyebrows shot up. "Eighth Guardian, hm? So Mother finally decided she was too old for the job and gave it to you, did she?" Her smile turned evil. "Then perhaps you can tell me where the Twilight Disc is."

"I won't tell you anything!" Peach responded hotly.

"We'll see about that." Cyanara raised her voice. "Bring out the prisoners!"

A solid line of red-tunicked, silver-armored Paroidian Guards marched out of the black portal behind Cyanara, each leading a single prisoner. Russ T., Rachel, Michael, Toad, Toadette, and Hardshell were there, all tied tightly with yards of rope, completely helpless. The guards and their prisoners lined up in front of the Empress. At her command they drew their swords and brought the razor-sharp blades up to the prisoners' throats.

"No!" gasped Peach. "Don't!"

"Surrender yourself _and_ the Disc, Peach," Cyanara breathed threateningly. "Come with me and they live. Refuse, and—" Her eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't want me to have to kill them one by one, would you?"

Peach stood in helpless indecision for a few moments more. Then she heaved a deep, tired sigh and started toward her older sister. Mario immediately caught her by the arm.

"No, Peach!"

"Mario," Peach said quietly without looking at him, "let me go."

"No!" he repeated anxiously. "If Cyanara gets you she'll _kill_ you! You _know_ that! I won't let you give yourself up like Amethyst did!"

Peach turned and looked at Mario, pain in her eyes. Silently he pleaded with her.

Suddenly Peach pushed Mario away and continued walking toward Cyanara. Mario recovered from the shove and would have rushed after her, but something inside him held him back. He could only stare in horror, heart-wrenched, as his beloved Princess Peach gave herself into the hands of her worst enemy. He felt sick to his stomach.

Peach stopped in front of her sister. "Take me, Cyanara," she offered quietly. "Take me and let them go."

Cyanara smiled craftily. "Release them," she barked to the guards lined up before her. Immediately the Paroidian Guards obeyed, slicing the ropes with their swords and allowing the prisoners to go free. The captives immediately clustered behind Mario, well away from the Empress.

Cyanara brought Peach's hands behind her back and held them there. "Compassion always was your greatest weakness, little sister," she stated suavely, snapping the shackles onto Peach's wrists. "Very foolish of you, giving yourself up for them. You have nothing to gain but the loss of your _own_ life."

Peach hung her head. "I don't care. Just so long as my people are safe."

"How touching," Cyanara replied sarcastically. "How selfless. How giving. How utterly _ridiculous._ Just remember, Peach—" her voice dropped to a mere whisper, and she leaned forward to speak into Peach's ear—"_you_ are the bait for luring Mario in..."

The Princess paled. She'd forgotten that detail.

"Yes," Cyanara said aloud, her cunning smile returning to her face, "I'm sure your oh-so-sweet Mario will come after you and try to rescue you. Don't worry." Turning, she ordered her guards back through the black portal behind her, and they filed through. With one last glare of defiant hatred at Mario, Cyanara led her captive sister through the portal, and it closed behind them, leaving the castle courtyard as still as death in the early morning.

No sooner had the dimensional portal closed than Mario tried to reopen it with the DTD. He wasn't expecting the message DT gave him.

"Destination under temporary lockdown."

"Lockdown?!" exclaimed Mario.

"Affirmative," droned DT. "The signal to Black Dimension is being jammed. Portal is inaccessible."

"How long until we can get there?" Mario asked anxiously.

DT paused, computing the answer. "Exactly twenty-six hours, five minutes, and thirteen seconds until temporary lockdown status ceases to exist."

"More than a day?!" Mario was tempted to smash DT to bits on the courtyard flagstones but restrained himself. "We can't wait that long! By the time we get to Black Dimension, Peach could be—" He choked.

"Calm yourself, Master Mario!" urged Toadsworth. "I too am worried, but going all to pieces certainly won't help Her Highness."

Mario took a deep breath and steadied himself. "You're right, Toadsworth. Guess all we can do is wait."

Russ T., captain of the royal guard, tapped him on the shoulder. "Mario?"

Mario turned and gave him an almost-smile. "Sure is good to see you again, Russ, and the others too," he greeted them heavily. Russ shook Mario's hand. Michael sensed the tension in the air and was quiet for a change. His mother Rachel pulled him close, and the eight-year-old Toad snuggled against his mom's pink-dotted purple dress.

Hardshell shook Mario's hand gravely. His face was straight, and his dark sunglasses concealed his eyes completely. "I should've gone instead of her," the crusty commando told Mario frankly. "We _all_ should have. She shouldn't have turned herself in like that."

"I know," Mario replied reluctantly, "but I didn't want you killed anymore than she did. I think I would have done the same if I'd been her just then."

"You can't talk that way," Hardshell cautioned him. "She did what she thought was best, but I can't say I agree with it. She's endangered the entire kingdom by her actions." Seeing Mario's dejection, he added, "Get your head up, Mario. There's still a chance we can save her."

"Yeah," Mario agreed half-heartedly.

"Mario?" Daisy spoke up. "Aster and I are going back to Sarasaland. Éclair and Creme are coming with us so they can get back to the Waffle Kingdom."

"How?" Mario inquired. "You forget we're stuck in this dimension. You can't just walk out. You've got to have an exit portal."

Spy Guy produced a remote and pushed a button on it, and a white portal opened up behind him. "That's why I've got this."

"You got a DTD too?" Luigi asked, amazed.

"It's a similar device," Spy Guy replied. "Goodbye, all of you."

"Bye, Mario! Bye, Luigi!" called Daisy and Aster before stepping through the portal with Éclair and Creme. Spy Guy followed them through, and the portal closed behind them.

Leika settled on Mario's shoulder. "Come on, Mario, cheer up. We'll get Cyanara yet!"

"Yeah, bro, don't sweat it!" chimed in Luigi.

Heartened, Mario allowed himself to smile again. Looking up, he saw the sun finally peeking over the courtyard wall, bathing the courtyard in golden light.

"You're right, guys. We'll win this fight yet. Now come on. Since we're waiting anyway, let's get this castle cleaned up and back in shape."

"Mario wants to help me clean house?" Rachel asked, surprised. "I'll take help any day. Let's get moving!"

* * *

Peach reeled under the force of her sister's fist and stumbled backward, nearly falling to the marble floor of the throne room. Her face began to swell.

"Where is the Twilight Disc?" demanded Cyanara, threatening another blow.

"I-I don't know!" cried Peach.

"Oh, I think you do," Cyanara replied, circling Peach slowly, hungrily. "You're the Eighth Guardian now, aren't you?"

"I am not!" protested Peach vehemently. That much was true—at least she wanted it to be.

Cyanara, still circling her younger sibling, eyed Peach's rainbow robes critically. "Then why are you wearing the robe of the Eighth Guardian?"

Peach said nothing. She had no answer for that question.

Suddenly Cyanara deftly reached out and slipped the Twilight Disc out from Peach's robe. Peach gasped and would have grabbed at the Disc, but her hands were still shackled behind her back. Cyanara gloated over the Disc.

"As I suspected, Peach. Sometimes you are so transparent in your lying."

"No! NO!!" Peach cried. "The eight Discs—Cyanara, STOP!!!"

The black-haired Empress produced the other seven Rainbow Discs. "Ah, yes, the eight Discs. All mine now, at long last. All that remains is to retrieve the Rings Mario stole from my servants." She set the stack of eight Discs on the arm of her silver throne and returned to Peach. "I've got something very special planned for you tomorrow, little sister. Until then—" She looked past Peach. "Guards!"

Immediately two red-tunicked Paroidians stepped through the silver double doors and bowed.

"Take Peach to the holding room. Do not let her escape. I need her for my little trap." The Empress's eyes gleamed in anticipation.

"Cyanara!"

Cyanara regarded Peach coolly.

"Cyanara, if—if you're going to kill me, just do it now," Peach pleaded. "Don't torment me with waiting!"

"That is not your concern, Peach," replied Cyanara smoothly. "I am the one in control, not you."

"Why do you enjoy putting me through such mental anguish?" asked Peach, the tears starting to flow.

Cyanara's response was direct, cold, penetrating. Her steely black eyes pierced Peach's face like daggers. "Because I find, in your waiting, a certain satisfaction—a repayment for the twelve _years_ I've waited to get my crown back from you. And I _will_ have that crown yet."

"Cyanara, I—"

"Don't even bother." Cyanara turned her back to her younger sister. "I have no use for feeble excuses. You stole my crown, and I want it back. Tomorrow, Peach—you _will_ die." Her eyes narrowed to hateful slits. "_Slowly._" She whirled about to face her guards. "Take her away!"

* * *

The Rainbow Guardian sat clustered together in Amber's bare, tiny cell. Not that they were imprisoned—Citrine had shorted the door lock. They were waiting. For what, they did not know. Amber, Citrine, Emerald, Aquamarine, and the Ruby/Sapphire fusion named Corundum sat in silence for an eternity. They'd been waiting for nearly two days in this single cell, waiting for something, anything...

Suddenly Corundum tensed. "The Discs...I feel them near..."

"I can sense their power," Citrine affirmed. "But so much of it..."

Emerald brightened. "They've all been put together!"

"Wait," Aquamarine said slowly. "If the Discs are truly all together, then that means—"

The Guardians simultaneously gasped. "Cyanara has the Twilight Disc!" Amber exclaimed. "She must!"

"Amethyst." Corundum stood. "We've got to get Amethyst. Together we Guardians might be able to stop the Empress from using them."

"You can't go out there, Corundum!" Emerald cried. "It's too dangerous!"

"My shields can hold off anything, including the guards," Corundum replied decisively. "I'm going to find Amethyst!"

Corundum slipped silently out of Amber's cell, shutting the door behind her. Glancing furtively to both sides, she saw that the hallway was deserted. Corundum, acting on impulse, chose to go left. She crept to the hall's end and turned right, going down a flight of stone stairs to the next lower level. Stepping off the staircase, she arbitrarily selected a direction and turned right, into another stone hallway.

As she neared the end of the hall, where it turned abruptly to the left, she suddenly heard voices from around the corner. She peeked around the corner and saw a troop of Paroidian Guards coming directly toward her. Instantly she caught her breath and flattened herself against the wall, hiding behind the corner. Perhaps they would turn off their course before coming around that corner.

The leading guard of the group, face emotionless as was typical of the Paroidians, led his squad directly forward and turned the corner, heading right for Corundum—and on they went still, marching down the hall as if nothing were there. The Guardian was nowhere to be seen—unless they had chanced to look up, for there, with her back pressed to the ceiling, was Corundum!

After the guards were out of sight, Corundum levitated back down to the floor. She let out a deep breath. "_That_ was close." In a few moments she resumed her search through Cyanara's fortress.

For hours Corundum moved unnoticed through the fortress like a stealthy shadow, hunting for the missing Guardian, Amethyst. Finally she stumbled upon the mind-control room quite by accident. Entering the dimly lit dungeon room, she found the central table unoccupied, the legions of computer equipment in standby mode. Corundum picked up one of the mind-control helmets with a stunned look on her face.

Suddenly the door to the room was flung open. Corundum dropped the helmet and ducked behind the computer towers, holding her breath lest its sound betray her presence.

A cluster of Paroidian Guards led Amethyst herself into the room and clamped her to the steel table. They left as silently as they had come—not a word spoken, only the muffled clanking of their silver armor.

No sooner had the door shut behind them than Corundum was at the table, bending over her sister. "Amethyst!"

The purple-haired seventh Guardian slowly opened her eyes. "...C-Corundum?"

"Yes, it's me, Amethyst."

Tears welled in Amethyst's eyes. "Thank goodness for you, Corundum. I can't take any more of this torture!"

"I'm going to get you out of here—just hang on!" Corundum pried at the clamps fastening Amethyst's neck, wrists, and ankles down but could not loosen them. "There's got to be a release button for these somewhere."

"It's on the control panel," Amethyst said weakly. "Big, red—you know the cliché..."

Corundum spotted the correct button almost immediately and pushed it without hesitation. Amethyst was instantly freed. The seventh Guardian sat up painfully and swung her legs over the edge. Corundum caught her as she began to slip. She hugged her tightly.

"Come on, we've got to get back to the others," urged Corundum. "Cyanara has all eight Rainbow Discs, and we've got to get them back."

Amethyst paled. "She _what?!_"

"Shhh," Corundum cautioned her. "Follow me." She led the way to the door and turned to find that Amethyst was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm still here," came Amethyst's voice from nowhere. "I'm just in my invisible form right now. Go ahead; I'll try to keep up with you."

"Can you make it all right?" Corundum asked, concerned.

"I-I think so. Let's go."

Once safely back in Amber's tiny cell, Corundum and Amethyst were welcomed heartily by their sister Guardians. "Amethyst!" Emerald cried, throwing her arms around Amethyst in joyous greeting.

Amethyst smiled wanly. "It's me, Emerald. Good to see you, too."

Emerald backed away with a smile on her face. The smile slowly faded as she looked at Amethyst more closely.

"...Amethyst? What's wrong?"

Amethyst's smile vanished, and her eyes seemed to glaze over. Slowly she began to topple forward.

"Catch her!" cried Amber in alarm, and Citrine and Aquamarine quickly grabbed Amethyst's arms to stop her fall. Emerald pushed her back onto her feet.

"Amethyst, are you all right?" inquired Aquamarine.

Amethyst blinked. "Oh—oh, I'm sorry... I'm so...tired...four days of no sleep... Cyanara...gave...me...no...rest..." Again she faded out and sagged limply in her sister's arms. Gently they lowered her to the floor.

"Looks like we're not going anywhere until Amethyst gets her sleep," Amber said soberly. "No sleep for four days... I can hardly imagine what she must feel like."

"But the Discs—!!" exclaimed Emerald.

"Amethyst is more important," Citrine put in quietly. "Without all of us working together, the Empress will easily overcome us. Her power is not to be underestimated. No, we need Amethyst's strength as well as ours. The Discs will have to wait."


	19. The Empress's Trap

**Author's Note:** _It's not my habit to write author's notes, but this bears saying to all you readers out there. There's a bit of backstory to Cyanara which I've never revealed to anyone and which is not going to appear in any of the series' stories. It is found only on the series website, which I plan to unveil at the conclusion of this story -- Chapter 20. Currently there are still a few bugs with the site, such as the story links page refusing to load properly (possibly a server-sided problem and may never be remedied, but then you guys shouldn't need links should you?)._

* * *

Late that Sunday night Mario finally collapsed into his temporary bed in one of the castle's many guest rooms. "Man, I had no idea cleaning a castle was so much work!" he sighed in exhaustion. "I think I'm gonna be sore in the morning."

"I warned you not to push yourself so hard," Rachel admonished him with a smile as she stuck her head into the room, "but noooooo—you had to go and work yourself half to death anyway."

"Point taken," Mario chuckled. "Next time I think I'll pay attention when you give me advice."

"Good," Rachel answered emphatically. "Even the best of heroes isn't perfect." Her eyes twinkled merrily. "Good night, Mario. Same to you, Luigi."

"Good night," the brothers called from their respective bunks. Rachel switched the lights off and shut the door tightly behind her.

The two brothers lay in the darkness in silence for a few minutes. Mario turned over restlessly. "I hope Peach is all right."

"Same here," Luigi responded with a yawn.

Mario lay on his back and stared at the darkened ceiling. "This waiting just gets to me. It's hard to know she's in danger of her life but not be able to do anything about it. It's...really hard." He sighed heavily.

"Tomorrow we _can_ do something, bro," Luigi reminded him, "so get some sleep. I think we're gonna have our hands full tomorrow." Taking his own advice, Luigi rolled over and was soon snoring away in his usual loud manner.

Mario, lost in his own thoughts, did not even notice the noise. In his mind he kept seeing the cruel face of the Empress leering at him. He could nearly feel Peach's fright. _I know she's scared,_ he thought, his expression troubled. _Cyanara has no conscience. She'd do anything to Peach._

Suddenly he remembered Peach's birthday present, still tucked away in his overalls pocket. He hadn't thought of it for two weeks, and thinking of it now brought tears, not pleasure. _Will I ever get a chance to give it to her?_ he wondered, pained at the thought. _Will I ever even _see_ her again?_

That haunting question plagued his mind relentlessly all that night, stealing his much-needed rest from him. Exhaustion eventually took its toll, and he finally dropped off to sleep near morning, only to dream of Peach.

Despite his lack of rest, Mario was the first to rise the next morning. The digital clock on the nightstand between his and Luigi's beds proclaimed the time in glowing red numbers—it was seven o'clock. Already faint rays of sunlight filtered between the curtains over the single window. Mario slipped out of bed quietly so as not to wake Luigi (who could be rather cantankerous in the mornings) and silently left the room. Throughout the long night he'd debated with himself over whether or not to act on his gut feeling. He knew that detection by anyone spelled the ruin of his spur-of-the-moment plan. Stealthily he crept down the red-carpeted hallways, at last making his way outside the building entirely.

Stepping out the door, Mario shut it as quietly as possible and squinted into the golden rays of the early morning sun as he crossed the drawbridge. A warm, comfortable breeze blew gently around him. In the forest far in the distance he could see the green leaves showing the first signs of the autumn color change. The day seemed quite peaceful. But all of this tranquility could not calm the storm in Mario's mind and heart. He was torn between two opinions.

"Should I, or shouldn't I?" He voiced his question to the breeze, which caught his words and carried them away, scattering them to the four corners of the wind.

At last he clenched a fist and turned his face to the sky again. "I have to," he said aloud. "No one else can help me do this. I have to do it alone." He reached down and pulled Peach's present from his pocket. Opening the tiny red velvet case, he gazed a moment at its shimmering contents, then snapped it shut and replaced it in his pocket. Then, decisively, he withdrew the DTD from the other pocket and held it silently for a moment.

"Mario?" queried DT in his male drone.

"The temporary lockdown, DT. Is it off yet?"

DT's CPU whirred rhythmically. "Lockdown going offline in thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine—"

Rachel opened the castle door to admit the breeze and spotted Mario standing on the opposite side of the drawbridge. "Mario? What are you doing?"

"—Six, five, four, three, two, one, lockdown is offline."

Mario jammed the Kunzite Ring's violet gem into DT's socket, and a black portal opened before him. Rachel gasped and started running after him.

"Mario, don't! STOP!!"

Mario whirled around to see Rachel dashing toward him. Indecision flickered across his face for a moment; then he suddenly turned and leaped through the portal, which closed immediately.

Rachel slowed to a stop, staring at the spot where Mario had disappeared. She shook her head. "No, no, Mario, what were you thinking?! Going after Peach by yourself?! Cyanara—what chance does he stand alone against Cyanara?!"

Mario hopped out of the portal and landed silently in the dirt on the other side as it closed behind him. Replacing DT in his overalls pocket, he glanced around to determine his location. His roving eye, passing along the trees all around him, caught something between the towering trunks, far in the distance, sitting atop a low, shallowly sloped mountain. He examined it as closely as possible.

"That's Cyanara's fortress," he said with finality. "I'd know that place anywhere—how could I possibly forget it?" Pushing back a flood of painful memories associated with that imposing structure looming in the distance, he began making his way through the trees toward it. The sun climbed higher and higher as the fortress once on the horizon came closer and closer. He reached the unnamed mountain and began trudging up its rocky face. When at last he stood before the great iron gates, it was nearly ten o'clock.

Mario reached up and grasped the giant handle on the massive right-hand gate, tugging at it with all his might. The gate wouldn't budge. He tried the left door with the same degree of success. After yanking at both handles with all his might for several minutes he gave up and started around the side of the building to seek an alternate entrance.

Suddenly the huge gates groaned ponderously and swung slowly outward. Mario immediately dashed behind the opening gates to conceal himself and plastered his back against the fortress's outer wall, hoping against hope that whoever was coming out would not spot him.

The gates finished their ponderous outswing, and a troop of nearly fifty Paroidian Guards marched out through the open gates, apparently going on a routine patrol. Mario waited until they had all passed, then quickly darted around the door he had hidden behind and through the open gateway before the doors closed behind the guards.

The closing of the iron gates echoed hollowly through the fortress's cathedral-esque main hallway. The high ceiling and sweeping Gothic arches were distinctly medieval in style. Doors unending lined both sides of this massive hall. Mario looked cautiously about. Apparently he was alone for now.

Mario started off down the corridor at a run, his rapid footfalls echoing loudly as he raced along. He knew exactly where he was going.

"Cyanara always keeps Peach in that one little room," he recalled as he turned aside and pulled open one of the countless doors, entering a normally sized hall branching off from the main. "That tiny holding room. She's always in there." He picked up his pace a bit more. The sooner he got Peach out, the better.

Within ten minutes he was creeping down the hall toward the holding room, watching warily for guards or other unfriendlies. Coming up to the steel door barring entrance to the room, he tentatively tried the knob. Strangely enough, it was unlocked. A pang of fear galvanized him to action, and he threw the door open.

"Peach!"

Mario scanned the room hastily. There was the wooden table with its two chairs; the miniature kitchen area with sink and refrigerator; and the small cot on the left. The cot had a depression in its center, as if someone had recently occupied it. Feeling it, Mario found that it was still warm.

A lump settled in his stomach. Peach had obviously been here just minutes or perhaps even seconds before he had arrived. What if Cyanara had -

"No!" Mario told himself. "She's _not_ dead yet! I've got to find her—she must still be in the fortress somewhere!" He turned and rushed out of the room.

* * *

Peach cowered behind an open door as a squad of Paroidian Guards rushed down the hall. They ran past without spotting her.

"They must have found the empty holding room by now," she whispered to herself, sighing in relief that she was yet undiscovered. Her breathing was heavy from running. "I've got to get away. I've _got_ to get out of here!"

She shrank back into her hiding place as another troop of guards sped past. After they were gone she cautiously peeked around the door. No one else was in sight. Quickly she dashed off in the very direction her pursuers had taken. _They'll never expect me to follow them,_ she thought hopefully as she sped off.

Wrong. Without warning the guards ahead turned and doubled back, heading right for her. Peach screamed and fled, only to find another contingent of the dreaded Paroidians coming at her from the other direction. Terrified, she ducked down a side corridor and ran with all her might. There was a door at the end of the hall, and she hoped beyond hope that it was unlocked. Otherwise—she cast a fleeting glance behind her and gulped—those guards were going to catch her. She didn't even want to think about what would happen to her if she were caught.

The guards, seeing Peach fleeing toward the door at the hall's end, gave a shout and picked up speed. Desperately Peach grasped at the doorknob and pulled. The door opened. Frantically she dashed inside and slammed it shut, locking it behind her. She leaned back against the door, eyes closed, catching her breath. From behind the door she could hear the frustrated voices of her pursuers. Then, strangely enough, they simply walked away, their footfalls growing ever fainter until Peach could no longer hear them.

_That's funny,_ she thought. _Why don't they just break down the door?_

Then she opened her eyes—and caught her breath.

"Oh, my—" Her mouth dropped open.

Spread out before her was an immense garden, filled to overflowing with exotic plants, trailing creepers, towering palms, and gorgeous flowers. Intertwined with the array of foliage was a complex network of stone-paved paths, turning the breathtaking panorama into a pleasure garden where one might enjoy a quiet stroll. Peach's ears, growing accustomed to the near silence, now began to hear the chirping of birds in the treetops and the rushing of water somewhere nearby. Her senses were lulled by the utter tranquility.

Slowly Peach relaxed, letting herself unwind from her breathless run. After a few minutes she hesitantly stepped onto one of the wending pathways.

Peach moved as a rainbow-cloaked angel through the vast indoor garden, stopping here and there to smell the flowers, gaze on the laughing, burbling creek that bubbled musically through the midst of the garden, or just breathe a sigh of happiness. Of all the places she had never expected to find peace, she had found it here. A quiet beauty attended her as she strolled through the garden. She was seemingly oblivious to potential danger. So absorbed was she in the peaceful stillness that she forgot even the possibility of peril.

Two round yellow eyes stared hungrily out of the dense foliage, following the rainbow-clad Princess's every move. The eyes narrowed to contemptuous slits, and a low growl issued from the undergrowth.

Peach did not notice the sound.

The eyes vanished, and a shadowy form slunk away into the greenery, only to creep to the very edge of its leafy camouflage, mere inches from a pathway that crossed Peach's path. Still Peach failed to notice the presence of her mysterious watcher. She seemed not even to know that she was not alone. She bent down to smell a particularly beautiful rose, then plucked the flowering stem and softly walked onward, crossing the path on which her hungry watcher lurked.

A strong body hurled itself across the intersecting path behind Peach and vanished into the adjacent garden terrace with a loud rustle. Peach started and turned; she saw no one. Unnerved, she hesitantly started forward again.

Imperceptible footfalls padded through the leafy growth on Peach's right. They stopped a few yards ahead of her. Peach warily moved on, not knowing that she was walking into the very jaws of -

With a vicious roar the beast sprang from her hiding place and pounced on the terrified Peach, knocking her to the stone path beneath her feet. Her claws dug into Peach's shoulders as the weight of her powerful orange body pinned Peach to the ground.

"EEEEEK!!" screamed Peach.

The tigress snarled into Peach's face, choking her with the hot stench of her breath. Her wickedly sharp teeth prepared to devour her prey. Peach shut her eyes tight and turned her head away, not wanting to see those horrible fangs rip into her flesh.

A sharp whistle pierced the air of the garden.

The tigress's ears perked up. Giving Peach one last snarl, the big cat jumped off her potential victim and loped off down the pathway.

Peach lay stunned on the stone path, trying to collect herself. Frightened almost into shock by the sudden attack, she lay still, catching her breath and recovering from her rude shock. Suddenly she heard a voice coming closer, growing louder...

"...yes, you're such a good girl, Sanya."

There was a loud purr.

"Yes, my beauty—" The voice stopped. "Well, if it isn't Peach!" exclaimed the voice with an overly smooth overtone.

"Cyanara," Peach whispered, all hope draining from her face.

Cyanara, the tigress at her side, strolled up to Peach. "Just look what the cat dragged in," she remarked casually. "Sanya, don't you eat Peach. I'm saving her for later."

The tigress again purred loudly and rubbed her neck against Cyanara's sheer black skirt. Cyanara stroked Sanya's massive head fearlessly.

"I'd heard you'd escaped from your room, Peach," Cyanara informed her sibling. "The only reason my guards didn't catch you was that this room is off-limits. I am the only one allowed inside—which obviously means you are trespassing."

Her eyes fell on the rose in Peach's hand and narrowed. "I see you managed to pick my favorite rose, too." She bent down and took the blossoming stem from Peach, who did not resist. "It's rather impolite to walk into someone else's garden without permission and begin picking the flowers at leisure." She twirled the rose stem in her fingers.

Peach shakily got to her feet beneath Cyanara's cutting gaze. Sanya growled, the hair on her back standing on end as it does on angry cats. Her tail lashed back and forth with hypnotizing rhythm. The silence was almost deafening.

"You know, Peach," Cyanara said at last with that sweet, cunning smile of hers, "I'm glad I found you here. You've saved me the trouble of having to get you from your room." She took Peach's arm, her eyes sweet as sugar, her grip like iron. "It's that time, little sister."

Peach could say nothing, so terrified was she. Death she feared not, but...Cyanara's methods were less than merciful.

The Empress shoved her sister roughly forward, making Peach gasp and stumble. "Get moving," she ordered, a smoldering hatred filling her face. "Go!"

Tremblingly Peach obeyed, Cyanara's hand still gripping her arm like a vise. Her mind was almost incapable of sensible thought, so numbed was it, but she managed one silent cry.

_Mario, where ARE you?!_

* * *

Frantically Mario dashed through the deserted halls of Cyanara's fortress, growing more and more desperate with each passing moment. Peach could be anywhere in this vast place, and he was without a map or other directions to guide him through the maze of hallways. Although feeling utterly lost and helpless, he refused to give up.

"I _know_ she's here somewhere!"

Suddenly, quite by accident, he stumbled on a steel door equipped with keypad entry. Acting on impulse, he stepped over to the silvery keypad and considered a moment. A thought struck him.

"Cyanara always did seem to like the number thirteen," he mused, recalling the many occurrences of that number over the past weeks. There were too many to mention—plus the thirteens in everyday life, such as Peach's own birthday, August thirteenth. Hesitantly he entered _1313_—double thirteen—into the keypad. The lock clicked open, and Mario pulled open the door, amazed that he'd been correct.

Mario cast a swift glance around the hall beyond the door. It seemed perfectly ordinary. Not a single person was in sight, not even the usual guard or two who would require avoiding. His ears strained to catch even the slightest sound.

From the far end of the hall rang out a bloodcurdling scream. The horrifying sound sent cold chills down Mario's spine, and he started. He knew that voice.

"Peach!!" Instantly he was flying down the hall at breakneck speed. He skidded to a stop at the hall's end. There was no door. Frantically he looked for an outlet. He heard that horrible scream again, sending the adrenaline pounding through his arteries, driving him to act faster. What to do? The tension made his emotions boil over, and in frustration he smashed his fist into the wall. Surprisingly, instead of hurting his knuckles, he punched a hole right through the wall.

Instantly Mario threw himself against the fake wall, easily ripping through the flimsy barrier. Another hallway lay beyond it. He barreled down it, turned right at the corner, and found his path blocked by an impenetrable steel door with security lasers guarding the path to the door.

Cautiously Mario scooted along the floor on his stomach, edging under the red beams stretched across the hallway. He barely made it through undetected. Having got safely past the security system, he scrambled to his feet and tried the door. Locked, as he had suspected. Now he put his elemental powers to good use, heating the door red-hot with fireballs then supercooling it with ice. The sudden temperature change strained the steel until it buckled and sheared apart. One punch smashed the ruined door wide open, and Mario stood aghast at the sight before him.

The room beyond the door was made completely of steel. Lining the walls was a super-complex array of computers. And in the center, sealed inside an airtight glass tube, was Princess Peach herself, a look of horror on her face as the shadowy ether filling the tube flowed into her. She seemed paralyzed, unable to respond to Mario's cries.

"_PEACH!!!_"

Without thinking Mario rushed forward and dealt the tube a stunning blow. A tremendous jolt of electricity seared up his arm into the base of his neck and hurled him backward, smashing him against the wall. He rebounded from the impact and landed flat on his face on the floor, stunned. The nearly fatal shock caused his brain to almost instantly lapse into unconsciousness, but just before he blacked out he heard footsteps approaching him...

* * *

Mario groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. Suddenly he remembered Peach, still trapped in that glass prison. He bounded to his feet, ready to break her out—then froze.

He wasn't in the room with Peach anymore.

The plumber now stood in a huge semicircular room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all washed a foul gray. A black stone altar sat in the center of the room with four tiny flames flickering from its four corners. But that which brought to Mario's mind the name of this room was the massive door, a door at least thirty feet tall, set into the far wall, engraved with crescent moons, flaming meteors, curling smoke, and a ribbon of fire licking up its center. Mario caught his breath. He knew where he was now, and he didn't like it one bit.

"Well, well," remarked Cyanara with her cunning smile as she entered the room from behind Mario, "it would seem the indomitable hero has fallen right into my trap. I knew Peach would serve as an irresistible lure to draw you to me."

Mario spun around and faced her. "What are you doing to her?!"

"Peach?" The Empress's smile grew still more crafty. "Just running a little self-destruct program. Once she's saturated with darkness she will be under my entire control. All I'll have to do is say the word, and poor little sister will immediately disintegrate."

"You can't do that to her!" cried Mario, stepping toward the Empress, fists upraised.

"Oh, can't I?" asked the Empress smoothly, circling around Mario to stand before the black altar. "Look at your hands, Mario, and tell me what's missing."

Mario glanced at his fists and stared at them in shock. The Rainbow Rings were gone. His head shot up, and he fixed his eyes on Cyanara's hands. Sure enough, there they were—all eight Rings, one Ring on each of her fingers. She laughed softly at his dumbfounded expression.

"I can do with Peach whatever I very well please," she informed Mario suavely, "because I have the power to do so. No one can stop me." Reaching behind her, she lifted the eight Rainbow Discs from the altar and held them up. The Discs floated out of her hands and began to circle her slowly, each emitting its own rainbow hue and bathing the Empress in a kaleidoscope of color. The Rings on her hands and the Rainbow Pendant hanging from her neck began to glow as well.

Cyanara reveled in her impending climax. "I repeat, Mario—_no one_ can stop me now!!"

With a brilliant burst of light the full energy of the rainbow was released from the seventeen sacred objects. Cyanara's body absorbed the energy immediately. The glowing ceased, and the floating Discs settled themselves back on the altar behind her.

"What...was that?" Mario asked slowly.

Cyanara laughed. "Don't you understand? With all of the rainbow objects in my possession, I can unlock their full potential. All of the power of the rainbow is now at my command. Now I am not only immortal—I AM INVINCIBLE!!"

Mario went into his battle stance. "We'll see about that!"

Cyanara smiled and held up her left hand, indicating the black eighth Rainbow Ring on her index finger. "I'm sure you've wondered what the power of this last Ring is," she said smoothly. "I've saved it just for the pleasure of using it on you myself." She pointed her finger at Mario, and the Ring began to gleam.

"Now, Shadow Ring," intoned Cyanara, "let's see how he fares against his own mind when it's turned against him. Mario," she cried in challenge, "feel the power of memory!"

With that the Shadow Ring emitted a light beam that caught Mario directly in the face. He cried out and tried to shield his eyes. To his dismay he found himself completely paralyzed. The light's intensity increased, and suddenly it shut off, leaving Mario to pitch onto his face, unconscious. Cyanara smiled again.

"Let's see how you resist your own memories, Mario. They will fight for me."

_"......ungh...no......NO!"_

_Mario felt himself floating, tumbling slowly through empty space. He could see nothing, hear nothing. He was completely isolated, cut off from the outside world, and was now trapped in the confines of his own mind._

_Suddenly, like lightning, an image seared through his consciousness. He saw the edge of the forest surrounding Peach's castle. Running away from him was a huge spiny-shelled dinosaur with horns and a crop of fiery red hair. Slung helplessly over his shoulder was a hysterical Princess Peach, reaching out to him. Instantly the scream he'd heard that day came back to haunt him._

_"Eeeeeek! Mario! HEEEEEEELP!!!"_

_"Peach!" Mario knew what that scene was from. That had been the first time Peach had ever been kidnapped by Bowser. Oh, how he hated that memory. He started to reach out, to save the Princess, but no sooner did he try to interact with the vision than it vanished completely._

_In another instant another scene flashed before him. He saw a circular room with a stone coffin lying in its center and hundreds of black candles lining the walls. Sir Grodus was there, before the coffin. Peach lay weak and exhausted at the foot of the stone casket. Then the horrifying Shadow Queen demon rose from the casket in all her haunting blackish-purple majesty of evil, enveloped Peach in a torrent of blackness, and possessed her._

_"No! Peach!" Again Mario tried to act; again the scene was lost in blackness._

_Now yet another memory burst into life before his eyes. He was looking out over the Koopaseum's vast amphitheater. The numberless Shroob hordes packed the colosseum bowl to overflowing. The younger Shroob princess was on the central platform, shouting some guttural command into the microphone. Then, to Mario's horror, Peach came flying into the colosseum, bound and dangling from a Shroob UFO. Petey Piranha stuck his ugly maw out of a blue pipe in front of the platform, opened wide, and the screaming Peach was dropped right into his toothy jaws._

_Mario did not try to react, to save her. He was too far away. But the tears blurred his eyes as the cheering Shroobs faded from his mental theater._

_A fourth "memory film" began to play. In it he saw Bowser himself standing in the Princess's castle, wielding the mystic Star Rod. He was fighting against Mario, who in his memory could feel the blows and burns being dealt him by the fiend. At last he could fight no longer and collapsed. From behind him he could hear Peach gasping, calling for him to get up, to fight, to protect her. He tried. He threw all his strength into the effort, but all his remaining strength was not enough. A pang shot through him as he realized he had failed. The mental screen went blank again._

_Suddenly Cyanara's voice cut through his consciousness like a knife, slicing through the stillness. "Remember the pain you felt, Mario. Remember how helpless you were each time to do anything for your princess. You failed her miserably."_

_"I did not!" Mario shouted back inside his mind. "Every time I rescued her!"_

_"And every time you failed to prevent the evil occurrence from happening," returned the Empress's icy voice. "Think of all the terror and suffering she's gone through because her 'hero' wasn't there to protect her from the start—or else was too weak to do anything."_

_"Stop it!" cried Mario. He was confused, bewildered by Cyanara's logic._

_"Not only that, but after every episode you walked away from her and went back to your own house, leaving her to whatever might choose to attack next. You would think that after a few of your 'adventures' you would have learned your lesson and stayed at the castle to guard her. But you didn't, of course. You don't care about her anymore than I do."_

_"STOP IT!!" screamed Mario. "I DO care!!"_

_"Then why didn't you do anything to protect her?" came the cold, calculating question._

_"I did!" Mario was angry now. "Stop trying to make this whole thing my fault, Cyanara! You know good and well that _you're _the one behind this whole scheme to get Peach! I tried to stop you and failed because of _your _trickery! ...I care about Peach! But just because I can't do anything to stop you doesn't mean it's my fault that she suffers! _You _are the one in the wrong!"_

_Cyanara's voice was silent for a moment. "Hmmmm... It appears that you are stronger in mind than I had anticipated. Perhaps I'll have to deal with you physically after all."_

Suddenly Mario found himself back in his body again, inside Penumbra's Tomb. Cyanara was still standing in front of the black altar, smiling at him. He scrambled to his feet.

"Now it's _your_ turn to feel the pain, Cyanara!"

"I wouldn't get so cocky if I were you," remarked the Empress casually. "Take a look behind you."

Mario turned and gasped. Amber, Citrine, Emerald, Aquamarine, Amethyst, Corundum, and even Athos lay sprawled across the gray stone floor near the door, completely unconscious. Their bodies showed countless bruises and a few serious gashes.

"While you were busy with your own little memories, Mario," Cyanara informed him, "these fools escaped and came after me. They were no match for me—not with my ultimate weapon."

Mario whirled around to face his enemy again. "Weapon? What weapon?"

Cyanara smiled as she slipped a pair of white gloves over her hands. Something about those gloves stirred a faint recollection in Mario's mind, but he didn't know why. He scrutinized them but found nothing unusual. Still, those gloves...

"Curious?" Cyanara's voice broke into his reverie. "I'm surprised you don't recognize them right away. Don't worry—you will." Her black eyes danced in glee. "Oh, you will."

Suddenly a wide black portal opened overhead, covering the lofty ceiling of Penumbra's Tomb. Flashes of lightning from within the portal illuminated the dimness of Penumbra's Tomb for brief instants. Cyanara lifted her face to the portal and smiled evilly, eyes gleaming in anticipation.

"Only in the realm between dimensions can my weapon be unleashed. So, Mario—care for a lift?"

Mario felt his feet leave the floor. He looked up and saw the portal seemingly rushing toward him, growing larger by the second. Cyanara, too, was shooting up through the air toward the portal, and her wicked laugh was the last thing Mario heard before he passed through the portal into the darkness beyond.


	20. Parting Threat

As he passed through the dimensional portal, Mario lost sight of Cyanara. He felt himself tumbling again, falling through impenetrable darkness. Where he was he did not know. On he fell, seemingly in slow motion, on and on into the blackness...

"Ooof!" Mario grunted as he smacked face-first into solid ground. He heaved himself back onto his feet and took a look around. He stood on a perfectly flat octagonal platform with a broad black stripe down the center of its metal surface and pink around its edges. The platform seemed to be flying, for now the black sky began to show red and purple racing past him in symmetrical bursts. His eyes widened.

"Wait a minute! I know this place! It's—"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!!" echoed a loud laugh from behind him. "Welcome, Mario, to your...Final Destination!"

Mario jumped and whirled around. There, floating just off the platform's edge, was the gargantuan face of Cyanara herself, complete with black hair, black eyes, and contemptuous smile.

"YOU!" he shouted, shaking his fist at the mammoth face. "You really _were_ behind everything that's gone on lately—even the Super Smash Bros. tournaments! This is the Final Destination stage, isn't it!?"

Cyanara laughed again. "But of course, Mario. I will admit that your fighting prowess allowed me to perfect my prototype weaponry. Now behold as I unleash their terror on you!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge white glove came flying down to the platform and hovered menacingly on Mario's right. Another glove glided in on the left. The heroic plumber gasped.

"M-Master Hand! Crazy Hand! You—You—" He ground his teeth in rage, glaring at the Empress in hatred.

"YOU MONSTER!!!"

Mario balled up his fists, breathing heavily due to his boiling anger. "You've played us all along, haven't you!? Hosting those innocent tournaments to perfect deadly weaponry—of all the sick, insane, deluded plots!" He growled savagely. "That _does_ it! Right here, right now—YOU'RE GONNA PAY!!!"

"Don't underestimate the strength of my own two hands," punned Cyanara with her cunning smile. "They are not mere robots obeying preprogrammed commands as they did during the tournament matches. They are now under my direct control. Literally—they _are_ my hands!"

"So that's what the white gloves were for, huh?" Mario seethed. "I'll shred your little toys into a million pieces!"

"My, my, the hero is angry," remarked Cyanara. Her voice turned sinister. "It is finally time, Mario—" Master Hand (Cyanara's right hand) seized Mario in its crushing grip—"time to show you the crushing power of evil!"

Instantly Master Hand began to repeatedly squeeze Mario, making him scream in pain as his body was mercilessly crushed. Master Hand then hurled Mario to the metal platform, stunning him.

"Is that all you've got?" taunted Cyanara wickedly. "Surely the hero is stronger than this pathetic display of incompetence!"

Mario grunted and got to his feet again. "You caught me off guard, that's all. Don't go celebrating just yet!"

"Caught off guard, hm?" Cyanara's black eyes gleamed. "Good. That's my specialty."

Suddenly Crazy Hand (Cyanara's left hand) balled up in a hard fist and came smashing down on Mario's head, grinding him into the platform like a pile driver. When Crazy Hand rose from the platform, the plumber was lying prone on the metal surface, battered and bloodied from being crushed again. He staggered to his feet again, only to be caught between the two Hands as they slammed together in a giant handclap. Their force made Mario scream in pain and collapse once again. This time he did not rise. He lay there helplessly as both Master Hand and Crazy Hand unleashed blue lasers from their fingertips, passing the burning beams right over him and causing excruciating pain.

"Get up!" ordered Cyanara. "Get up and fight like the hero you claim to be!"

Crazy Hand hovered over Mario and began dropping bombs on top of him. The explosions nearly blew Mario to bits and left him bleeding and broken on the platform's surface.

Now Master Hand began to stalk across the platform using two fingers like legs. It came right up to Mario and flicked out one finger, striking him dead-on and tumbling him across the platform a little distance. Mario landed limply, like a rag doll, and did not move except for his ragged, painful breathing.

"Through yet?" asked Cyanara innocently.

Mario groaned and did not reply.

"Very well, then." Master Hand flew up, away from the platform. "One last blow should finish you off. Die, pathetic plumber!"

With that, Master Hand came flying in from behind Cyanara's towering face and brought its palm down right on top of Mario in a powerful smack. Mario screamed one last time, and everything went black.

* * *

For the third time Mario awoke on the cold gray stone floor of Penumbra's Tomb. This time, though, he was so battered and weakened that he could not rise. Cyanara stood over him, removing her white gloves and returning them to her pocket. She smiled wickedly at Mario.

"Still alive after that beating? Quite an accomplishment." She reached beneath her lavender miniskirt, the one she wore over the longer, clingier black one, and withdrew her prized demon-handled dagger. "Not that you'll live much longer anyway." Cyanara glared at him and brought the dagger down in a vicious arc, heading straight for Mario's heart.

With a burst of desperate strength Mario flung out his arm to intercept the blade. The dagger tore a gash down his right arm just before his hand struck the dagger from Cyanara's grasp and sent it hurtling into the air, embedding its blade in the ceiling directly over the black stone altar.

"Why, YOU!" raged Cyanara. She brought her foot over Mario's head and struck his skull with her heel. He groaned in pain. Again she rammed her heel into his head—again and again and again, spewing hatred from her mouth with each passing blow. Mario felt himself fading away. The stream of kicks to his head was slowly making him black out. Not much longer and he would be finished in this life. He closed his eyes in exhaustion.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light in the room. Cyanara stumbled backward, stunned, and Mario leaped to his feet. His strength had been mysteriously restored in that instant, and his wounds had vanished. Around him the Rainbow Guardians and Athos, too, got to their feet, also revived and replenished.

Cyanara stared past Mario and his companions in horror to the entryway to Penumbra's Tomb. There, in the open doorway, stood Princess Peach herself, arrayed in her rainbow robes, hands outstretched. Determination fired her eyes.

"P-Peach!" spluttered Cyanara, for once caught completely by surprise. "How did you escape?!"

Peach brushed the question aside. Her face held the determined look of a challenger as she faced her older sister, and her voice carried the same challenge. "I am Princess Peach Toadstool, the Eighth Guardian of the Rainbow. I have it in my power to protect those I love, and protect them I will. It is my duty to destroy the evil—and destroy you I will, Cyanara!"

"I'd like to see you prove it, little sister," retorted Cyanara with a touch of sarcasm.

Peach's only answer was to shoot out a beam of light from her hand. The Empress countered with her own black beam. The two clashed halfway between the sisters and struggled to overcome one another. Their energies were balanced. Neither could overpower the other.

"Ha," Cyanara laughed as she continued to hold off Peach's beam. "Even as the Eighth Guardian your power is only a match for mine, Peach. You haven't the strength to best me even now."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that, Cyanara," Peach replied grimly as she fought against Cyanara's ray of darkness with her light. "There's one thing you forgot to take into account. Amber!"

Amber dashed back to the doorway Peach stood in. "Yes, Eighth Guardian?" she asked hastily.

"Rainbow Mix—you and me!"

"Wh-What?! Me—fuse with the Eighth Guardian?!" Amber was stunned.

"Do it—and hurry!" Peach ordered as she held off Cyanara's ray of darkness.

"Athos, give me the sun!" cried Amber, and Athos promptly transformed himself into a miniature replica of the sun itself, filling the Tomb with brilliant sunlight and nearly blinding the Empress. Amber began glowing fiery orange and within seconds was ablaze.

Peach, holding off Cyanara's dark ray with her left hand, put out her right and formed a barrier of light around Amber, trapping her heat energy inside and making it build up rapidly. In no time Amber had reached the critical fusion temperature, and pure energy began to concentrate inside the barrier.

Now Peach did the unexpected. She suddenly shut off her beam of light and ducked as Cyanara's beam shot over her head. Then, still holding the barrier around Amber, she actually stepped _through_ it into the billion-degree zone within. Untouched by the unearthly heat, she took Amber's hand and dropped the shield. Instantly the fusion energy concentrated around Peach and Amber and engulfed them in a tremendous sphere of light. Cyanara, surprised at this unexpected move, watched in stunned silence as not only Peach and Amber fused, but also Citrine with Amethyst and Emerald with Aquamarine. The light energy vanished, and Cyanara found herself faced with four of the most powerful beings the world has ever seen.

The first, Ruby and Sapphire's fusion form—the red-and-dark-blue-haired Corundum.

The second, Emerald and Aquamarine's fusion form—the green-and-blue-haired Beryl.

The third, Citrine and Amethyst's fusion form—the yellow-and-purple-haired Quartz.

And the fourth, Amber and Peach's fusion form—the orange-and-white-haired Chalcedony.

Cyanara stepped back, still stunned. "Incredible," she murmured. Her eyes narrowed. "I don't care how much power you gain," she announced loudly. "I possess all of the rainbow objects. My strength is undefeatable. You poor fools will perish at my hands unless you surrender to my authority!"

"Never, wicked one!" cried Athos hotly, returning to his human form. "You and your 'master plan' have gone too far already. It is time for you to receive the just reward of evildoers!"

"That reward would be world domination, traitor," replied Cyanara darkly. "I will rule over all—and you, my opponents, will be the first whose lives will be sacrificed to bring in my new order. My era of evil is at hand. Bow to your master, all of you—for I am not simply your ruler, but your omnipotent GOD!!"

"So you presume to play God, is that it?" queried Corundum. "Pretending to be a deity will earn you nothing but destruction!"

With that, Corundum levitated off the gray stone floor of Penumbra's Tomb and used her powers of shielding to place red-and-blue energy barriers around the four fused Guardians, herself included. "Let's see you break through _these,_ Cyanara!"

Beryl's dark eyes sparkled as she prepared to unleash her psychic powers on the Empress. Quartz used her power of summoning to give herself a small army of ferocious lions, primed to attack the Empress at her command. The stage was set for the ultimate superpower conflict—Cyanara versus the fused Rainbow Guardians.

The fight would have been an awesome thing to behold—if it had ever taken place.

Chalcedony turned to Corundum. "Lower your shields, Corundum."

Corundum was shocked. "Chalcedony—"

"Lower the shields."

Confused, Corundum withdrew her protective barriers from herself and her Guardian sisters. Chalcedony motioned to the others to stay back. They relaxed their battle stances, looking at her in puzzlement.

"Stay back," commanded Chalcedony quietly. "This is for me to do."

A hush settled over Penumbra's Tomb. Even Cyanara was struck by Chalcedony's quiet, purposeful bearing. Slowly the fused Guardian stepped in front of the Empress and issued an unbelievable challenge.

"Kill me."

"What?!" cried Mario. "No! Peach, NO!!"

"Trying to trick me into making the first move, aren't you?" Cyanara asked slyly, a cunning smile breaking over her face. "What are you planning?"

Chalcedony said nothing. She simply stood there, waiting.

"You can't do this!!" protested Beryl. "Chalcedony, STOP!!"

A wicked grin spread across Cyanara's face. She drew her hands back, charging up the dark energy within her. "So the Guardian Chalcedony wishes to die? Very well—then so be it!"

Cyanara flung her hands out toward her surrendering opponent and unleashed a torrential beam of darkness at her. The beam stretched from Cyanara's hands in seeming slow motion as Mario stared at it in horror. He reached for the motionless Guardian.

"PEACH!!!"

Chalcedony lifted a hand and intercepted the beam. It struck her palm and stopped instantly, its energy gathering into a sphere in her hand. Cyanara stared at her in shock.

"Y-You—my—you couldn't have—_!!_"

In another instant the beam went shooting right back at Cyanara, punching a gaping hole directly through her heart. The heat of the beam seared the blood vessels shut and prevented blood flow from the fatal wound.

The Empress stood still and looked down at the hole in her chest. Her face slowly paled, and she looked up at Chalcedony. Her voice was hoarse.

"So...you think you are victorious... I...cannot...be...killed...like......that......" She pitched onto her face and remained motionless. The room was deathly silent.

"It is done," Chalcedony said quietly. She canceled her fusion, splitting back into two separate beings—Peach and Amber. Mario rushed to the Princess and grabbed her in a bear hug.

"You really had me worried for a minute there!" he exclaimed as he squeezed her tightly.

Peach hugged him back. "Amber and I knew what we had to do," she answered softly. "Cyanara had to be convinced to act out of maliciousness, not from a preplanned strategy. That was her weakness—bloodlust." Her eyes watered. "My sister..."

Mario released her from his arms. "You've changed," he said simply.

She nodded. "I know. I had to come to grips with my role as a Rainbow Guardian. I'm willing to accept it now. Mom knew what she was doing when she passed her title and powers down to me when she did. If I hadn't had the power I do know...I hate to think of what might have happened."

"How did you escape from that tube she had you locked up in?" Mario asked, puzzled.

Peach smiled wryly. "Mom. I kept thinking of her words when she told me, 'You are stronger inside than you think you are.' She told me to reach inside myself to find the strength I needed. So I did...and here I am. I was able to break free."

Seeing Mario's disappointed look, she hastened to add, "Don't be sad, Mario. I'm still the same Princess Peach you've always known. I'm just a little stronger, that's all."

"So does this mean I won't have to rescue you ever again?" Mario asked. His tone was dejected, but there was a twinkle of humor in his eyes.

Peach laughed. "We'll see. I may have to arrange a kidnapping just so you have something productive to do with your time." Her eyes danced with laughter. "Come on, let's go." She took Mario's hand and began to move toward the double doors which led out of Penumbra's Tomb—but she froze halfway there. Someone frighteningly familiar was blocking the open doorway. She had black hair, black eyes, a clingy black skirt with a lavender miniskirt over it, and a form-fitting ruby-red top. In her hands she clasped an iron staff tipped with a glittering yellow crescent. She smiled cunningly.

Cyanara.

Not a word was spoken. Every one was stunned at the Empress's reappearance. Mario took a look behind him to see Cyanara still lying on the floor of Penumbra's Tomb, right where Chalcedony had felled her. He turned back to the doorway. It couldn't be—_two_ Cyanaras?!

Cyanara erupted with laughter at Mario's incredulous expression. "A little disbelieving, Mario?"

"If you're Cyanara, then who's that?" demanded Mario, pointing at the dead "Cyanara" behind him. "A clone?"

"Android," Cyanara replied smoothly. "While you were wandering down memory lane, Mario, I replaced the real me with a copy. I knew you'd kill her sooner or later, but it doesn't matter. My plan is still active, and your little scuffle with my alter ego has only furthered my designs."

Peach reached out a hand to Cyanara. "Please, Cyanara, enough of this senseless fighting. Come back to the castle with me."

"The castle?" spat Cyanara. "What for? I have my own place right here. I don't need my little sister to dole out charity to me."

"But Cyanara—"

"Enough," barked the Empress. "Farewell, all of you. Thanks to you, my trap is now set." She turned and began walking down the entry hall toward the stairs that led up to the main floor. "I'll be waiting for your return, Mario...for tonight is the night of the half moon." She reached the stairs and disappeared up them into her fortress.

Peach, still staring after her estranged sister, clasped Mario's hand in hers a little tighter. "Mario, the half moon—"

"She's going to try awakening the evil behind that door," Mario finished tersely, turning to gaze at the ominous mammoth door lurking behind them. "We'd better leave _now_."

"Wait," Peach said, quickly stepping over to the fallen Cyanara android. The humanoid robot still wore the Rainbow Rings and Rainbow Pendant. Peach removed the objects from the false Empress and put them on herself, each Ring on its proper finger, the Pendant dangling from its golden necklace about her neck. Then she moved to the black altar and picked up the eight Rainbow Discs. They floated out of her hands and began circling her just as they had Cyanara, glowing with brilliant rainbow colors.

Peach lifted her hands. "Cyanara has done much damage with her dimensional rift. It is time that rift was healed."

"Do it, Peach!" exclaimed Mario.

"Power of the rainbow," cried Peach, "restore these eight dimensions into one and remove the curse of destruction placed on this kingdom!"

The Discs halted in their flight and channeled brilliant rays of color directly into Peach's body. The infusion of power was painless; Peach neither winced nor cried out as the rainbow energy poured into her. The Pendant began to glow.

The eight colors of the rainbow burst forth from the Pendant in rapid succession, flashing brilliantly for moments apiece. At the final flash, the burst of black, the room was seized with a tremendous quaking. For almost five minutes Penumbra's Tomb and its occupants reeled under the force of the earthquake. At last the rumbling subsided, leaving the Tomb silent and still. The Discs floated back into Peach's hands, and the glowing ceased.

"Is...is it done?" breathed Quartz.

For the first time Peach allowed herself a worry-free smile. "Yes," she replied happily. "The Mushroom Kingdom has been restored!"

A rousing cheer erupted from the threats of Mario, Athos, Corundum, Beryl, Quartz, and Amber. Peach shed tears of joy.

"Finally," she whispered to herself, "finally my people are safe again." The thought brought more tears to her eyes. "Safe. Safe at last."

When the cheering died down, Peach remembered Cyanara's threat about the half moon. "Emerald."

Beryl canceled her own fusion, splitting into Emerald and Aquamarine. The green-haired Emerald stepped forward. "Yes, Eighth Guardian?"

"Emerald, go to my castle and bring the captain of the guard to me."

Emerald flashed a smile and winked out of existence. In moments she reappeared in Penumbra's Tomb, bearing Russ T. in her arms. She set him on his feet before the Princess.

The armor-clad Toad looked utterly bewildered as he looked at Peach. "...Your Highness? Is that you?"

Peach nodded. "My mother made me the eighth Rainbow Guardian, Russ."

Russ's eyebrows went up. "...OOO-K," he said hesitantly, "you lost me completely on that one." He shrugged. "Guess I'll just take your word for it. What did you want me to do?"

"Russ," Peach answered earnestly. "I want you to guard the entrance to this room tonight. If anyone or anything gets inside, report to me immediately. We're going back to the castle."

"Back?" Russ queried. "The dimensional rift—"

"Taken care of, Russ. It's gone."

"Thank the Stars for that!" exclaimed the captain. He saluted. "I'm on it, Your Highness. No one's going to get into _this_ room tonight!"

"One more thing, Emerald," Peach said aloud. "Please check around this fortress. I want to know if Cyanara's still here."

"Be right back!" Emerald again vanished, returning a few minutes later instead of within seconds as she had last time.

"The place is empty," she reported in her girlish voice. "Cyanara's nowhere to be seen."

"She must be expecting something to happen tonight," guessed Mario grimly. "Come on, let's get out of here." Russ stationed himself just outside the Tomb entrance as the others filed out.

* * *

"Home at last!" sighed Peach happily as she walked through the doors into the castle's front lobby.

Rachel came into the foyer from the other direction and dropped the stack of folded sheets she was carrying. "Your Highness!" she cried, rushing to the Princess. Peach enveloped her trusty servant in a warm hug.

"Oh, it's so good to see you safe and sound!" exclaimed Rachel. "I was so worried about you!"

Luigi stuck his head into the lobby. "What's all the commotion—HEY!! You're back, bro!" A huge grin split his face wide open. "Lemme get everybody else!" The head was withdrawn from the doorway, and within minutes the lobby doors flew open. Michael, Tace T., Hardshell, the royal guards—even Toadsworth came rushing out to greet the Princess. Joyous shouting echoed around Peach as everyone clustered around her. The Princess just stood there, tears streaming down her cheeks at this show of love and appreciation.

"Your Highness?" rose a tiny voice above the clamor.

Peach turned, and her smile became tender. "Leika!"

Leika curtsied. "Your Highness, I must take the eight Rainbow Rings. They must be returned to their place in my homeland temple."

Graciously Peach removed the eight Rings from her fingers and handed them to the hovering fairy. The Rings shrank to the appropriate size as Leika took them, and she slipped them onto her own tiny fingers. "Thank you, Eighth Guardian."

"Leika," corrected the Princess, "enough with the title. I'm just Princess Peach."

Leika smiled.

Ruby tapped Peach on the shoulder. "Your Highness—um, Eighth Guardian—"

"Ruby." Peach stopped her. "I'm not just your ruler anymore. I'm your sister Guardian. Please—call me Peach."

The red-haired Guardian hesitated. "...Peach," she began, somewhat uncomfortable with the informality, "the Shadows Royal are dead. Our duty is done. We are returning to Rainbow Temple immediately."

"That's all right," Peach assured her. "That's where you belong, at least for now. I must remain here, though." She handed the first seven Rainbow Discs back to Ruby. "My love goes with you, Ruby. Feel free to visit me any time you wish."

"Thank you, Peach," Ruby said gratefully.

Amethyst clasped Athos's hand "Before I go..."

"Before _we_ go, you mean," corrected Athos gently. He faced the Princess. "We would like to be joined in holy matrimony." Amethyst beamed.

Citrine stepped forward. "I object."

"State your objections, Citrine," Peach interposed.

The third Guardian faced Athos with an air of directness. "Athos," she began bluntly, "the pledge of the Guardians requires absolute loyalty to the protection of the Discs."

"Rest assured," Athos replied, "that I have no intention of making her break that commitment. I intend to help her fulfill it. It is the least I can do for her after all she has done for me."

"So you will not allow the duties of Guardianship and matrimony to conflict?"

"On the contrary," Athos answered, "I intend to make the two duties one. Whatever her Guardian's duties call for, I will be beside her to assist."

"Very well." Citrine stepped back, placated. "I have no further objections."

"Then it's settled," Peach announced. "When would you like to have the ceremony?"

Athos looked down at his fiancée.

"Today," Amethyst answered happily.

Peach smiled. "I can arrange that."

With that, Peach raised her voice above the welcoming din and ordered everyone back to their duties. The crowd dispersed, leaving only Mario and Peach in the lobby.

"It looks like Amethyst will get to have her wedding after all," Peach said with a smile, speaking to no one in particular. "I'm glad for her."

"Peach," Mario said hesitantly, "about your birthday... I'm sorry I was late."

"I'm glad you were," Peach replied, turning her smile toward Mario. "If you'd been on time, you would have been on my plane when it was hijacked. Cyanara would have had both of us."

"Still, I never did get a chance to give you your birthday present." Mario smiled as he withdrew the small red box from his pocket and handed it to Peach. "I hope you like it."

Peach took the small red box and flipped the lid up. Inside glittered a diamond ring. She caught her breath. "Mario—this—is this—"

Mario looked her in the eyes. "Princess Peach...will you marry me?"

The next thing Mario knew he was being smothered in hugs by a joyous Princess Peach. He returned the embrace.

"Of course I will!" she exclaimed happily. "I've been waiting so long for you to ask me that!"

"I still don't know why I waited so long," Mario returned with a smile as Peach released him and slipped the ring onto her finger. "Maybe because I didn't want to hear—"

"Your Highness! What is that you have on your finger?!"

"—Toadsworth," Mario finished with a mock groan.

"It's an engagement ring, isn't it? _ISN'T IT?!_" Toadsworth ranted from the lobby steps. "Speak up!"

"For your information, Toadsworth, Mario just asked me to marry him," Peach replied matter-of-factly.

"And what did you say to him?" demanded the elderly steward.

Peach smiled. "Yes."

Toadsworth's eyes bulged, and his face went red. He clutched his cane with a death grip.

"Uh-oh." Mario gulped. "RUN!"

Both princess and plumber dashed out the lobby doors into the castle yard just as Toadsworth's choice protest came bellowing after them.

"ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS!!!"

* * *

Evil... The ultimate evil...

It sleeps behind the towering door in Penumbra's Tomb...

Cyanara has threatened to awaken it. But only Mario holds the key to opening that door.

That key?

His blood.

But Cyanara has none of Mario's blood, you say.

True.

She does not need it...

Come with me. Step into the realm of the Mushroom Kingdom and watch as the terrifying drama unfolds before your very eyes.

You are standing in the long, dim hall leading to Penumbra's Tomb, deep in the bedrock beneath Cyanara's fortress. You slowly move forward to the black double doors, grasp one of the half-moon handles, and pull the door open. Slowly, hesitantly, you step inside.

Immediately you sense an atmosphere of foreboding as your gaze falls on that huge, ominous door across the semicircular room. The air seems filled with a strange tension, as if something dreadful is about to transpire. Your ears, straining for the slightest sound, catch whispering noises, as if the unseen spirits here are discussing your presence.

Suddenly, without reason, you are overpowered by the impulse to look up. There, embedded in the ceiling directly over the altar, is a dagger, a demonic face leering at you from its hilt, blood coating the blade. It is the very weapon with which Empress Cyanara attacked Mario. And the blood on the blade...it is Mario's blood.

You stare in deadly fascination, transfixed, as the bright red liquid trickles down the blade, pools at the hilt, creeps down the handle. A single drop forms at the end of the handle and hangs suspended there for a moment.

Time seems to slow. The room appears to whirl about you. Your eyes are locked on that single ruby droplet hanging in mid-air. A chill runs down your spine.

Then, as if in slow motion, the droplet falls, down, down, down, toward the stone beneath it. The silence in the room is almost deafening. Then you hear it—the sound of that fatal drop of blood striking the altar's surface.

_plink..._

**THIS IS NOT THE END.**

**IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING...**


End file.
